
Copyright N^. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/motortourthroughOOyard 



A Motor Tour Through 
France and England 

By 

Elizabeth Yardley 



A Record of Twenty-one and a Half 
Days Automobiling 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 

JAMES POTT & COMPANY 
1911 



Copyright, 191 1, by James Pott & Company 



First Impression September 1911 






©C!.A2y5i;48 



Preface 

This book was originally started as a diary, 
but at the end of our journey I decided that 
other motorists might enjoy reading about 
what we had accomplished in so short a 
time, and the general public be interested 
in the variety of the trip and the illustra- 
tions, many of which have not been used 
before. I have not attempted a guidebook 
in any sense, but it may prove of some value 
in that capacity. 

Elizabeth Yardley. 



Contents 



PART ONE 

Chapter Page 

I. The arrival at Cherbourg .... i 
II. Paris to Blois 4 

III. Blois, Chaumont, Amboise, Chenon- 

CEAUX AND LOCHES 1 3 

IV. From Tours to Chinon and Saumur . 35 
V. Along the Loire to Nantes ... 55 

VI. In Brittany 63 

VII. From Auray to Quimper 73 

VIII. From Quimper to Brest and Morlaix ^6 
IX. Along the coast to Dinard ... 79 
X. Dinard, Saint Malo, Mont Saint Mi- 
chel AND AVRANCHES 83 

XI. From old Avranches to modern Trou- 

VILLE 89 

XII. Pont Audemar and Rouen .... 98 
XIII. Rouen to Paris via Dreux and Char- 

tres 107 

PART TWO 

I. From London to Bedford, via Hamp- 

STEAD Heath and Elstow . . . .119 

II. Peterborough, Newark and Mans- 

field 124 

(vl 



Contents 

Chapter Page 

III. The Dukeries and Sherwood Forest 134 

IV. The Byron Country, Haddon Hall, 

Sheffield and Leeds 146 

V. York Minster, Bolton Abbey and 

Windermere 171 

VI. In the Lakeland 180 

VII. FuRNESs Abbey, Levens Hall, Liver- 
pool AND Chester 192 

VIII. The Gladstone Country and Wales 199 
IX. Shrewsbury, Worcester Cathedral 

AND Broadway 212 

X. To London by way of Oxford and 

Henley 224 

XL The Departure 241 



vi] 



List of Illustrations 

Facing Page 
Ruins of Chateau Gaii^lard at lyKS An- 

DKLEYS Frontispiece v'' 

Harbor at Cherbourg 2 ^ 

Chateau of B1.01S, Wing of Francis I . 3 ^' 

Chateau d'Amboise 26*^" 

Dungeons and Tower of Louis XI at 

LocHES 27^ 

Chateau of Chinon, Tour du Moulin . 46 ^' 

The Cathedral at Tours 47 --^ 

Statue of King Rene and the Chateau 

d' Angers 64 '^ 

Vannes 65 • 

Old Houses at Morlaix 72 

The Bridge at Auray 73 

Mont Saint Michel 96 - 

Terrace of the Casino at Trouville . 97 i 
The Spot Where Jeanne d'Arc was 

Burned — Rouen 108' 

View of Chartres and its Cathedral . 109; 

Hard WICK Hall 132 

Bun van's Statue at Bedford . . . . 133 

Byron's Bedroom at Newstead Abbey . 144 

The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest . 145 

Haddon Hall 156 

[vii] 



List of Illustrations 

Facing Page 

Peacock Inn — Derbyshire; 157 

Keswick 178^ 

The Shambles — York 179^ 

Wordsworth's Home — Grasmere . . . 188 

KiRKSTONE Pass and Brothers' Water . i89 - 

Hawarden Castle 202 

In the Rows at Chester 203 

Llangollen Bridge — Wales . . . . 212 

Shrewsbury 213 

The Tower, Magdalen College, Oxford 238 

Maidenhead Bridge 239 ^ 



[viii] 



PART ONE 



A Motor Tour 



THE ARRIVAL AT CHERBOURG 

August lyth, Down a gang-plank set at 
an angle of about eighty degrees we de- 
scended to the tender, and were amused by 
watching the other people trying to make 
the descent with dignity and at the same 
time keep their equilibrium. Quickly we 
were left behind by the huge liner on which 
we had spent such a restful few days, the 
passengers going on to Bremen fluttered 
their handkerchiefs in farewell, and as they 
disappeared in the distance I fancied them 
returning to their comfortable steamer- 
chairs and enjoying the balmy breeze we had 
left behind us. 

At Cherbourg, which is one of the five 
military ports of France, travellers seldom 
linger, though it is the portal to a charm- 
ing district, preferring to hurry on to other 
[I] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

towns, or Paris. We spent but a few min- 
utes in the Custom-House and were treated 
most courteously, then walked out on the 
pier to see the famous breakwater begun by 
Louis Sixteenth and finished by Napoleon 
First. The Digue, with its central fort, 
mounts no less than three hundred and 
thirty guns and has three lighthouses. 

Trains do not start on schedule time in 
this happy land, but await the pleasure of 
the guards who finish their chat or smoke 
before giving the signal, and then one 
slowly steams away from the harbour and 
into the lovely Normandy country, part of 
which we will cover in the automobile. 

We dined at the first table, having been 
fortunate in remembering to secure places 
from the steward who met us on the tender; 
other passengers, who had neglected to do 
so, clamoured for food but were obliged to 
wait for another dinner to be prepared. 
The steward passed through the coaches and 
gave to each of us a rose, a welcome to 
France and her flowers, for here one sees 
blossoms everywhere, the meanest dwelling 
having against its walls either a rose vine or 
pear tree. 

[2] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

After the light faded away, in a gorgeous 
purple and golden haze, the journey was a 
bit tedious and the glimmering lights of 
Asnieres were a welcome sight. Paris at 
last, and the usual hurry and bustle to se- 
cure a conveyance. Getting into one of the 
crazy little cabs we rumbled out of the sta- 
tion into one of the broader thoroughfares, 
the coachman cracked his whip and we took 
our place in the stream of moving vehicles, 
the swiftly rushing automobiles with their 
blazing eyes and the bicycles with their 
illuminated balloons; past the brilliantly 
lighted wine-shops and cafes with their 
little round tables on the sidewalks sur- 
rounded by happy sons and daughters of 
France, on we went to our hotel opposite 
the gardens of the Tuileries. 



3] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



II 



PARIS TO BLOIS 

August i8th. Our start was made, in a 
windy rain storm, up the Champs Elysees, 
the Arc de Triomphe looming black against 
a leaden sky, through the Bois to Ver- 
sailles. On arriving at our destination the 
rain ceased, giving us an opportunity to re- 
visit the bath of the Bosquet de la Collon- 
ade, the memory of its beauty making one 
desirous to return to it again and again. 

At the Palace we confined our time to the 
Galleries containing our favourite portraits 
by Lebrun and Nattier. The last portrait 
that Vigee Lebrun painted of Queen Marie 
Antoinette hangs at Versailles and is known 
as ''Marie Antoinette and her Children." 
It is the one of the doomed Queen in which 
she is seated beside a cradle, the Duke of 
Normandy on her knee, the little Madame 
Royale at her side, and the Dauphin point- 
ing into the cradle. When the doors of the 
Salon of 1783 were thrown open the paint- 

[4] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

ing was not quite finished and for some days 
the frame reserved for it remained empty. 
It was on the eve of what was to become 
the Revolution and the country was speak- 
ing in no hushed whispers of the pubHc deficit 
in the nation's treasury and gazing bewil- 
dered at the bankruptcy that threatened 
the land. The empty frame drew forth the 
bitter jest '' Voila le deficit." Gazing at the 
Queen portrayed in all her glorious beauty 
one dreads to think of that lovely head 
bowed beneath the knife of the guillotine, 
and of the cruelties endured by her and her 
dear ones. 

The Nattier portraits of the daughters of 
Louis Fifteenth are all very beautiful and 
the one of Madame Pompadour exquisite. 

At the Hotel des Reservoirs, the old man- 
sion once occupied by that famous courte- 
san, Madame Pompadour, we had a cup of 
chocolate, and could, in fancy, see the rooms 
crowded with the white-wigged, silken-clad 
belles and beaux who flocked about her, 
hoping thereby to gain the favour of the 
King. 

A peep down the bosky walks of Ver- 
sailles which are redolent with memories of 

[5] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Louis Fourteenth, La Valliere, Madame 
Montespan and Madame Maintenon, Louis 
Fifteenth, Madame Pompadour and la Du 
Barry, Louis Sixteenth and Marie Antoi- 
nette, then on we sped to Dourdan along a 
straight road stretched like a grey ribbon 
for miles before us, with tall trees each side 
of it, swayed by the wind like reeds. Many 
broken branches were in the road and we 
were in constant fear lest one should be 
blown against the car. 

At the Hotel de Lyon we ordered break- 
fast, and, while waiting for it to be pre- 
pared, went just across the way to the ivy- 
clad ruins of the Castle of Philip Augustus 
which consists of a massive circular donjon, 
girdled by a wall flanked by nine smaller 
towers surrounded by a formidable moat, 
where now are growing peaceful apple trees. 
The building of the adjoining church was 
commenced during the twelfth century and 
not finished till the eighteenth. Beside con- 
taining a wealth of stained glass windows, 
through which the sunlight fell making a 
thousand rainbows, there are beautiful col- 
umns, a lofty ceiling, splendid arches and a 
magnificent organ. Who would have ex- 
[6] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

pected to find such beauty in so small a 
town? Returning to the Inn we had our 
dejeuner beneath the shade of the trees in 
the flower-embowered courtyard, and fed 
the puppies who crowded around us begging. 

The afternoon was a shining one, the 
heavy clouds having been chased away by 
the still furious wind. Soon we reached Or- 
leans, where, in the square stands the eques- 
trienne statue of Jeanne d'Arc. This year 
the Maid of Orleans was canonized and now 
her image is the one most prominently dis- 
played in all the shops where the figures of 
saints are sold. 

The Cathedral of Saint Croix, though im- 
posing, dates from the decadence of Gothic 
architecture. It was destroyed by the Hu- 
guenots and practically rebuilt by Louis Fif- 
teenth. The florid facade attains a certain 
amount of dignity in spite of its bastard 
style, being flanked by two towers, two 
hundred and eighty-five feet high, between 
which are three portals surmounted by rose 
windows and an open gallery. The interior 
has double aisles and is one hundred feet 
high. In the right aisle stands a new marble 
statue of Jeanne d 'Arc. 
[7] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The Hotel de Ville contains the statues 
of Jeanne designed by Princess Marie 
d 'Orleans; and there, also, in 1560, Francis 
Second died in the arms of the young and 
beautiful Marie Stuart. On the Rue du 
Tabour, number 37, is where the Maid of 
Orleans lodged, and, number 15, the so-called 
house of Agnes Sorel, which is now the 
museum of the Maid. 

Our desire to linger among these sur- 
roundings was overbalanced by our anxiety 
to reach Chambord and also to have time to 
visit Notre Dame at Clery, the handsome 
fifteenth-century church in which Louis 
Eleventh lies buried. 

Beside his tomb, is a flagstone which cov- 
ers the heart of Charles Eighth. The chap- 
els contain charming sculptures, and the one 
of Dunois-Longueville holds the remains of 
this famous ally of Jeanne d'Arc. In the 
Choir is the massive wooden statue of Notre 
Dame of Clery, the very one before which 
that crafty old Louis used to make his vows 
to her whom he considered his protectress; 
there is also some fine old glass, and the 
sculptured stalls are well worth seeing. 

Opposite Clery is Meung-sur-Loire, for- 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

ever associated with Dumas' novel of the 
*^ Three Musketeers," D'Artagnan's intro- 
duction into the story and as the prison of 
that vagabond poet, Francois Villon. 

Beaugency too, with its Tour de Cesar 
looming high above the town, we could see 
across the river and a few kilometers farther 
on was Mer, whose fifteenth-century tower 
forms a beacon for many miles around, then 
Menars where La Pompadour had a chateau 
used as a rendezvous for the chase. The 
house has changed hands many times but 
the same gardens and terraces still descend 
towards the shimmering river. 

Entering the Sologne we found a legion 
of lakelets amid a sandy plain, but not the 
desert we had expected, in fact, the land- 
scape has been made to blossom as the rose. 

In the heart of the Sologne lies Chambord, 
and how beautiful it was in the rosy sunset, 
its towers, turrets and magnificent lantern 
reflected in the tiny river Cosson in whose 
limpid waters it bathes its feet. Luckily, 
there are no regular hours of closing this cha- 
teau and we were allowed to enter, after the 
guardian had first shown us into a room, 
requesting us to wait a few minutes. The 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

place was filled with all sorts of china, lin- 
ens, photographs and post-cards, their sub- 
jects being the fanciful devices of the Kings 
and Queens who frequented the Touraine 
and views of the chateaux they occupied. 
To save time we purchased several articles 
for we fancied we would be kept waiting un- 
til we did so. Immediately afterwards we 
were taken to the chateau. 

The chief point of interest at Chambord 
is the wonderful spiral staircase where one 
person may ascend and another descend 
without seeing each other. This sets one to 
thinking of the important part it must have 
played in the intrigue of the time of Francois 
First and later. It was here Gaston d 'Or- 
leans and his little daughter, the Grande 
Mademoiselle, once played hide and seek. 

The apartments, numbering a room for 
each day in the year, are not very interest- 
ing; one, containing some toy cannon pre- 
sented to the young Count of Chambord; 
another, a portrait of Marie Lescinzska by 
Van Loo, some tapestry in the chapel which 
was worked by little Madame Royale when 
in the Temple; and, still another, being the 
study of Francois First, with carved walls 

[lOl 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

and ceiling which was later the oratory of 
Marie Lescinzska, are the only things to 
claim much attention. It was on one of the 
window-panes of his study that, according to 
tradition, Francois escutcheoned with his 
diamond ring the famous couplet, 

Souvent femme varie, 
Bien foi est qui s^y fie 

There is a fine view from the terraces on 
the roof, and here we again peopled the place 
with nobles and courtiers, flattering Fran- 
cois Premier, who moved among them clad 
in the richest Italian velvets and surrounded 
by every splendour. 

There are thirteen staircases at Cham- 
bord. On the one beneath the dome of the 
Orleans wing are three caryatides represent- 
ing Francois First, the Duchess d'Etampes, 
and the Countess of Chateaubriand, that 
trinity of boon companions in intrigue. 

The lowering sun warned us to be on our 
way, and reluctantly we took leave; cross- 
ing the magnificent bridge that spans the 
Loire we drove up the Rue Denis Pepin 
into the courtyard of the Grand Hotel de 
Blois, an attractive little hostelry, where 
[II] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

we were welcomed by a smiling "Maitresse 
d 'Hotel." We were given quaint tiny rooms 
and after removing the stains of travel we 
dined in a hall where the walls were tiled 
with the emblems of the Renaissance Kings 
and Queens. Here we first tasted the 
Sparkling Vouvray of which we had heard 
so much praise, and found it had not been 
overrated. 

In the twilight we wandered down the 
streets and, at the one shop we found open, 
purchased post-cards to send to the dear 
ones across the water. 



12] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



III 



BLOIS, CHAUMONT, AMBOISE, CHENONCEAUX 
AND LOCHES 

August igth. A heavenly sunrise, the 
severing clouds laced with streaks of glori- 
ous crimson, invited an early start. After 
breakfast we climbed the short steep hill to 
the Chateau of Blois and our first sight was 
the building of Louis Twelfth, built of black 
and red lozenge-shaped bricks, facing the 
little tree-bordered square. Above the en- 
trance to the courtyard is an equestrian 
statue of Louis Twelfth, replacing the an- 
cient one destroyed by the Revolutionists, 
and supposed to be a replica of the former. 
The windows are very ornate, and gargoyles 
abound in the decoration of the fagade. 

The only blot on this pile of Blois is the 
wing of Gaston d 'Orleans, who began a 
complete restoration of the whole, but luck- 
ily this was the only thing he accomplished. 

Our guide was a dear little old woman 
who took us slowly along, with some French 

[13] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

visitors, telling us in a sing-song voice the 
history of the chateau. I suppose it is im- 
possible to put much feeling in the telling of 
a story one repeats a dozen times a day. 

The apartments of Anne of Brittany are 
filled with inferior paintings and sculptures; 
all the rooms have been restored but the 
chimney-pieces are too gaudily decorated. 
Re-entering the Court, which, with its col- 
onnades, is quite cloister-like in effect, we 
proceeded to the Chapel of Saint Calais, a 
tawdrily decorated building. It was built 
by Louis Twelfth and his betrothal to Anne 
of Brittany is represented on one of the 
windows. 

In the wing of Gaston is the remarkable 
staircase frame (the steps have never been 
made; the staircase is of wood) crowned, 
in the interior, by an imposing double- 
storied cupola. It contains on the first 
floor the Public Library of the town and 
the Salle des Fetes, also two beautiful Gob- 
elin tapestries designed by Charles Le- 
brun. 

From the Terasse du Foix there is a glori- 
ous view of the town and the course of the 
Loire. In the Tour de Foix Catherine de 

[14] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Medici installed her astrologer, Cosmo 
Ruggieri, an old alchemist and philosopher, 
but a sorry rogue, very useful to Catherine 
after the death of Henry Second. Where- 
ever Catherine resided Ruggieri was in her 
train, never for a moment leaving her, for 
on him she could lay the blame of the vari- 
ous poisonings and secret assassinations. 
Even when he went so far as to make an 
image of Charles Ninth and inflicted certain 
indignities upon it for which he was sent to 
the galleys, Catherine soon obtained his re- 
lease and set him to work again with his 
poisons and philtres. 

The grand staircase is in the centre of the 
wing of Francois First; it is the Chef d 'CEuvre 
of the Renaissance with its exquisite female 
figures and lace-work designs, the salaman- 
der, the hedge-hog, and the initials of Fran- 
cois First and Claude of France. The three 
statues representing Peace, Youth and 
Friendship present the profile of Diane de 
Poitiers and are attributed to Jean Goujon. 
Unlike most staircases, this one winds from 
left to right. We climbed it, admiring every 
inch of the way, to the second landing, from 
which we followed the guide to the apart- 

[15] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

merits of Catherine de Medici. The room 
where she died is directly beneath the one 
in which the Duke de Guise was murdered 
by order of Henry Third, and on her dying 
bed Catherine was obHged to listen to the 
death struggle going on above her. The ora- 
tory of Catherine contains a pretty apsis 
projecting beyond the fagade and a superb 
stone pendentive. The " cabinet de travail " 
has delightful carved wood-work in which 
there are no less than two hundred and 
thirty-seven differently ornamented panels 
which contain secret cupboards; all of the 
panels having hollow spaces, so that when 
one raps on them one cannot distinguish 
the cupboards from the spaces. From this 
room, it is said, Marie de Medici made her 
escape, when imprisoned at Blois by her 
son, but this story has been disproven as 
have so many other traditional tales. 

All the rooms have been restored by put- 
ting linens on the walls and painting upon 
them designs of the original decorations, 
but they have too new a look and are far too 
opulent and highly coloured. 

Above the apartments of Catherine are 
those of Henri Third which include the Salle 
[i6] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

de Conseil where the Due de Guise, sur- 
named "la Balafre" attended a council to 
which Henri had summoned him, in order to 
have him assassinated; the Salle des Gardes; 
the Galerie du Roi, formerly divided into 
five rooms, one of which was the oratory 
where the King placed two monks to pray 
during the murder of the "Balafre," and 
another room being the wardrobe chamber 
where the King had the corpse of the Due 
hidden; the Cabinet Neuf, where Henri re- 
mained during the assassination and the 
King's Bed-Room to which Guise, stabbed 
by the assassins in the adjoining room, re- 
turned and fell dead at the foot of the bed. 
It was then only that Henri Third dare 
emerge from the "cabinet neuf." Pushing 
the corpse aside with his foot, he said: "He 
seems greater in death than in life." 

In the Tour des Oubliettes or Tour du 
Moulin is the dungeon where Cardinal de 
Guise, brother of the "Balafre," was mur- 
dered the day after his brother was done to 
death. The cell is still armed with the same 
heavy iron door. 

The bodies of the two brothers were burned 
the same night and their ashes thrown into 

[17] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the Loire for fear their followers might con- 
vert them into relics. 

We descended to the Salle des Etats, the 
oldest in the Castle, dating from the thir- 
teenth century. It is divided in two by 
eight columns and a mean staircase has re- 
placed the wooden one of two stories by 
which the King descended into the hall when 
the States-Councils were held. 

Along the Loire to Chaumont is a charm- 
ing drive, and our automobile bore us swiftly 
to the hideous wire-rope bridge which 
creaked in an alarming manner as we drove 
across it. 

The Chateau of Chaumont, owned by the 
Duke de Broglie, was such a contrast to the 
other chateaux we had visited, this one be- 
ing occupied by the family who reserve the 
left wing for their own use, while the right 
one, which is shown to visitors, is beautifully 
furnished with tapestries and furniture be- 
longing to the period of Catherine de Medici. 

The entrance to the court-yard is reached 
by crossing the bridge over the moat and 
passing between two lofty towers, the left 
one ornamented with the initials of George 
d'Amboise, surmounted by the Cardinal's 
fi8 1 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

hat, and the right one being adorned with 
those of Charles d 'Amboise who commenced 
the present chateau after 1473. A medal- 
lion decorating the gateway contains the 
initials of Anne of Brittany and Louis 
Twelfth, and the other decorations consist 
of letters C elegantly entwined, and some 
volcanoes, an allusion to the name Chau- 
mont (Chaud-mont= Warm-hill). And here 
and there, can also be seen some D's at- 
tached, standing for Diane de Poitiers. 

The winding staircase of honour leads to 
the Salle d 'Armes which has a ceiling painted 
in 1539 with the arms of Chaumont and 
Amboise, an array of Flemish tapestries, ar- 
mour, some carved wood benches and a lan- 
tern. Adjoining is the Council Chamber 
with its pavement in coloured faiences of 
Palermo, magnificent Brussels tapestries of 
the sixteenth century and Italian earthen- 
ware. In the bedroom attributed to Cath- 
erine de Medici is a Baldachin bedstead, a 
prie-Dieu and a dressing table, the owner- 
ship incorrectly ascribed to Catherine. From 
this chamber a balcony overlooks the chapel 
where the de Broglie family hold services. 
In the room supposed to have been occupied 

[19] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

by Ruggieri, the astrologer of Catherine, 
there is a private staircase ascending to the 
platform of the tower, which, according to 
tradition, he used as an observatory. 

Another chamber leads from the other 
side of the Salle d'Armes and is attributed 
to Diane de Poitiers. It contains her por- 
trait, furniture and tapestries and bed of 
the sixteenth century. 

Returning to the courtyard the beautiful 
well-head claimed our attention, also the 
wonderful view of the valley and the placid 
Loire, with its bars of sand and pebbles 
gleaming like gold in the sun. The owner 
had one side of the buildings and two towers 
removed from the chateau to obtain that 
glorious picture of the river. 

Leaving the picture-like Chateau of Chau- 
mont, we followed along the tawny coloured, 
slowly flowing river to Amboise perched 
high above the little town of white houses 
that cluster around its feet; it is the prop- 
erty of the Count de Paris, another pre- 
tender to the French throne. He and his 
family have undertaken its restoration and 
have established there a home and retreat 
for their old servants. 
[20] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Under the guidance of the daughter of 
the guardian we were allowed to take our 
time and revel in the beauty of the gardens 
which are lifted high aloft and isolated from 
the peasant life below. 

Up an incline one goes first to the Chapel 
of Saint Hubert, a jewel set on the edge of 
the ramparts; over its door is the exquisite 
carving of the vision of Saint Hubert and 
above that in the tympanum, the Virgin 
between Charles Eighth and Anne of Brit- 
tany, a much inferior piece of sculpture. 
The interior is a gem of Gothic architecture, 
the carvings, veritable stone lace and much 
more beautiful, in a miniature way, than 
those in Chartres Cathedral. 

Along an odorous garden of roses and 
honeysuckle we continued up the inclined 
path leading to the chateau, at the head of 
which is a bust of Leonardo de Vinci, whose 
bones are supposed to lie in the chapel. 

The apartments, to which one is ad- 
mitted, are all in a state of restoration, con- 
sequently are in a barren condition. From 
the King's Apartments we went to the Salle 
des Etats, where the windows open on the 
conspirator's balcony, the ironwork of which 

[21] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

is a masterpiece of fifteenth-century crafts- 
manship. 

The Tour des Minimes, and the Tour Hur- 
tault, situated near the Queen's Apartments, 
are so built that horses and wagons can en- 
ter from the lower road and mount to the top. 
They were perfected by Francois Premier 
when he invited Charles Quint of Spain to 
visit him, for Charles could not or would 
not climb the hill, but mounted that great 
inclined plane in a state coach, followed by a 
retinue of splendidly attired courtiers. As 
he died later of gout, doubtless it was an im- 
possibility for him to approach any other 
way. 

In this same old castle Francois First spent 
his youth, educated by his mother Louise de 
Savoie, together with his brilliant sister 
Marguerite, the household forming what 
Frangois called the "trinity of love." 

And one can imagine the courtyard filled 
with people of the past stalking majestically 
about the terraces and courts we were tread- 
ing to-day, Catherine de Medici planning 
her diabolical deeds; the wily Henri de 
Guise; the haughty Conde; and the fair 
Marie Stuart with her youthful spouse, re- 

[22] 



A Motor Tour Through Frarice and England 

splendent in their costly velvets, brocades 
and laces. 

At Amboise Catherine rejoiced in the 
massacre of the Huguenots, and frail Marie 
Stuart and Francis Second, speechless with 
horror, were obliged to look from the bal- 
cony and witness the horrible atrocities 
committed. 

Abd-el-Kedar was imprisoned in the 
Salle des Etats, which, during his captivity, 
was partitioned off into apartments. Since 
then it has been restored to its normal con- 
dition. 

Under the mossy "tilleuis^^ and along the 
pathway beside the ramparts we went to 
the doorway where Charles Eighth was sup- 
posed to have struck his head when running 
to play a game of tennis, thereby causing 
his death. However, history tells us he died 
from a stroke of apoplexy, so another legend 
is shattered. 

Leaving the banks of the Loire, caressed 
by that golden river, we entered the valley 
of the Cher, and alighted in front of the tall 
iron gates of Chenonceaux. A walk up the 
broad avenue of plane-trees, between the 
sphinxes, past the tower and over the 
[23] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

drawbridge, took us to the entrance doors 
of that beautiful and graceful building 
which has been described as looking like a 
pretty capricious woman, garbed in white. 

The singular and fantastic gallery which 
almost spans the Cher is two stories high and 
stands on five arcades separated by abut- 
ments on each side of which is a semicircular 
turret rising up to the level of the first story. 
The entrance door has beautiful carvings. 
On entering we were taken to the dining- 
room, over the door of which, in carved 
stone, are Saint Thomas and Saint Cather- 
ine, patron saints of Thomas Bohier and 
his wife Catherine, one time owners and 
beautifiers of the Chateau of Chenon- 
ceaux. 

The dining-room, formerly the Halle des 
Gardes, has a ceiling decorated with the 
initials of Catherine de Medici, a chim- 
neypiece with the arms of the Brigonnet 
family and Flemish tapestries representing 
the Rape of Helen; a carved door of the 
sixteenth century representing Saint Hubert 
connects the dining-room with the Chapel 
which contains some old stained glass of 
1521. 

[24] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The chamber of Diane de Poitiers has a 
fine carved chimney-piece over which is a 
portrait of Catherine de Medici, Flemish 
tapestries of the fifteenth century, an ''Ed- 
ucation of Love" by Correggio and an Ital- 
ian library. The ''cabinet vert" adjoining 
has retained its decorations of the time of 
Catherine de Medici, with Henri Second 
furniture. A small cabinet leads out of this 
room and projects over the river. 

In the chamber of Frangois First, the 
chimney-piece is of carved stone, valuable 
autographs are displayed in cases, and there 
are some pieces of Italian furniture of the 
fifteenth century, a few pieces of Louis Thir- 
teenth furniture and portraits including one 
of the three authentic portraits of Diane de 
Poitiers. 

Passing along the lower story of the gal- 
lery we saw the old ceiling with its mournful 
decoration of the room of Louise de Vaude- 
mont, widow of Henri Third, to whom 
Catherine bequeathed Chenonceaux. One 
cannot blame Catherine for wresting this 
beautiful dwelling from Diane at the first 
opportunity. Much humiliation had she 
endured at the instigation of her husband's 

[25] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

fascinating mistress, for he even met his 
death in honour of Diane, who had the sat- 
isfaction of knowing he bore her colours on 
his lance and her initials, set in gold and 
jewels, on his shield. 

Both women continued in turn the work 
begun by Catherine de Brigonnet of embel- 
lishing and beautifying the house and 
grounds. 

Two pretty formal gardens run along the 
right bank of the shady Cher, and just be- 
low the Chateau a little wooded islet rests 
on the bosom of the waters. 

Tasso visited Catherine de Medici at 
Chenonceaux and the honeymoon of Fran- 
cois Second and Mary Queen of Scots was 
spent there. The Long Gallery has been no 
bridge of sighs, but the scene of many fetes 
and much merrymaking, for there Henri 
Second and Diane passed many hours, 
dancing, loving and intriguing. The death 
of Louise de Vaudemont seems to be the one 
sad occurrence. At present the Chateau is 
owned by Monsieur Terry, husband of the 
late Sybil Sanderson. 

One leaves Chenonceaux with very happy 
impressions; no bloodshed nor poisoning has 
[26] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

occurred within its walls, instead, most of 
the occupants have spent their happiest mo- 
ments there. 

We stopped at the jolly little Hotel du 
Bon Laboureur for a refreshing draught, 
then continued our way to Loches, a deli- 
cious run through smiling villages and bil- 
lowy country, most of the fields stacked 
high with golden hay. 

After entering the gates of Loches it is 
a steep climb to the present Parish church 
of Saint Ours, formerly Notre-Dame. In 
a musical voice the young woman, who 
showed us about, told us this church had 
only assumed its present form since the 
Revolution, after the destruction of Saint 
Ours which stood under the King's apart- 
ments in the special enciente called the 
Petit-Fort-Saint-Ours. In front of this pa- 
gan looking building is a porch, with ribs 
added, in the sixteenth-century style, which 
opens at the side by two small doors. An 
antique altar, in the shape of a round col- 
umn, ornamented with various carved sub- 
jects, serves as a holy-water font. The main 
door of the church, with semicircular arch 
and dating from the twelfth century, has a 
[27] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

magnificent archivolt with figures and alle- 
gorical subjects. 

The first bay of the nave, forming an in- 
terior vestibule, belongs to the building 
which Geoffrey Guise-Gonelle, Conte d'An- 
jou had consecrated in 965 . It is surmounted 
by a massive clock-tower, the upper story 
of which octagonal in form dates, like the 
stone spire, from the commencement of the 
twelfth century. The nave, properly so 
called, with two perfectly square compart- 
ments, is covered by two stone pyramids 
having eight sides (formerly they were coni- 
cal in shape outside) which forms the exte- 
rior roofing. The building of these pyramids 
was carried out or inspired by Thomas Pac- 
tius, prior of the Chapter. A steeple sur- 
rounded by four bell turrets covers the 
central tower which is square in shape from 
top to bottom. The two small aisles of the 
nave, added later, date from the twelfth and 
the sixteenth centuries, the choir stalls of 
the sixteenth century and the tabernacle of 
the eleventh century are very beautiful. 

By the aid of the flickering light from a 
tallow dip we descended to the crypt, one 
of the many secret passages Louis Eleventh 
[28] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

had made, in which is an altar and a well- 
preserved wall painting of Saint Brice. 

In the chapel of the Virgin the stained 
glass windows relate the story of the Sash of 
the Virgin, a unique relic preserved in the 
Treasury for which the church was built. 

From the church we walked along the 
Rue Charles Seventh to the Chateau Royal 
which overlooks the Indre, flowing peace- 
fully past. It is now used as the sub- 
prefecture. Once it was inhabited by the 
Kings of France; Charles Seventh, Louis 
Eleventh, Charles Eighth, and Louis 
Twelfth. In its present state the exterior 
dates from the first and last of these mon- 
archs. 

In the courtyard is the magnificent chest- 
nut tree, planted, it is said, by Frangois 
Premier and in the interior, in the oldest 
part of the building is the beautiful oratory 
of Anne of Brittany, decorated with ermines 
and cordeliers. In the basement of the 
highest tower is the tomb of the "fair and 
frail" Agnes Sorel; her recumbent statue is 
of the sixteenth century; two angels are 
kneeling at the sides of the head of the de- 
ceased whose feet rest upon two little lambs. 
[29] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Agnes Sorel, known as "La Belle des 
Belles," was maid of honour to the Count- 
ess of Anjou; she attracted the attention 
of Charles Seventh of France and it was 
largely her patriotic influence that inspired 
that monarch to carry on his struggle 
against the English. She left a large sum of 
money to the Monks of Loches and was 
buried in the church of Saint Ours. Later 
the monks alleging scruples as to her past 
life, requested permission from Louis Elev- 
enth, himself hostile to Agnes, to remove her 
remains. The King agreed on condition that 
they also surrendered her endowments, but 
this condition they would not accept, so she 
remained in the church until her tomb was 
removed during the reign of Louis Sixteenth. 

Next we went to the donjon, the most re- 
markable part of the chateau; the founda- 
tion of Loches was built by Fulk Nerra, 
Charles Seventh rebuilt it and at the same 
time surrounded it with walls and fortified 
gateways. Louis Eleventh, who succeeded 
him, strengthened it, and to keep under his 
hand those prisoners who had angered him 
most built the Tour Ronde, or Tour Neuve. 
This big round tower contains vast halls re- 
[30] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

served for people of distinction, the prison 
of the Due d'Alengon, the Salle des Gardes, 
and the Salle de Question, in which can be 
seen the various instruments of torture. In 
the circular dungeon, hidden away in the 
foundations, ventilated by the smallest of 
loopholes, were once the famous cages in- 
vented at the time of Louis Eleventh by 
Cardinal La Balue, who had the misfortune 
to occupy one himself. These cages were 
made of wood and iron and covered with 
sheets of iron both inside and out and of 
various sizes. The one occupied by Car- 
dinal La Balue was said to have been too 
small to allow him to either stand up or lie 
down and was suspended from the roof of 
this underground prison. The cells of the 
Tour Ronde are the least impressive of the 
terrible prisons of Loches; the ones in the 
Martelet, the next building to the Tour 
Neuve, are far more interesting. 

There one sees cell below cell cut from 
the solid rock, the upper ones provided with 
small loopholes, but the lower ones like a 
tomb. Descending thirty-seven steps of a 
narrow winding staircase, with only the 
rays of one lantern carried by the guard- 
[31] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

ian to guide us, we entered the cell where 
was imprisoned for nine years Lodovic 
Sforza, Duke of Milan. The walls are cov- 
ered with rude paintings, designs and writ- 
ings done by him, to relieve the monotony 
of his existence. Also, he made a sun-dial 
on the wall opposite the narrow loophole, 
hoping thereby to keep track of the time. 
Philosophy, impatience and despair are de- 
noted in the notes covering the walls; his 
portrait also appears in several places. 
After nine years of imprisonment he died of 
joy on hearing of his release. The other 
cells bear inscriptions in various languages; 
Philip de Commines has written there "I 
have sometimes repented for having spoken; 
never for having kept silent." In the Tour 
Martelet was also imprisoned the Comte de 
Saint Vallier, father of the fair Diane de 
Poitiers, who secured his release by fascinat- 
ing the susceptible Frangois First, but after- 
wards the king, growing tired of her, she 
turned her attention to his son. 

We retraced our steps to the church, past 

the donjon proper, a rectangular tower of 

which nothing remains but the four walls; 

this with the towers, the church and the 

[32] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Chateau Royal are things that form the 
Castle of Loches whose enormous enciente 
covers the top of the hill; it abounds in 
broken gateways, twisting passages and 
crooked lanes that lead to postern doors. 

Descending through the ancient streets 
we reached the Porte des Cordeliers a tur- 
reted machicolated tower and the Tour 
Saint Antoine remains of a demolished 
church. This Renaissance edifice has a 
Gothic base and was erected during the 
years 15 19 to 1530. It has a remarkable 
balustrade forming figures and letters and 
is completed by a cupola restored at the 
end of the nineteenth century. In the Rue 
Saint Antoine is another Renaissance build- 
ing, the Hotel Ruillon. The charming Ho- 
tel de Ville, built from 1535 to 1542 by the 
architect Jean Beaudoin and recently re- 
stored, adjoins the Porte Picoys of the 
fifteenth century. The Chancellerie is in 
the Rue de Chateau and dates from the 
reign of Henri Second. It is said that in 
the Hotel de la Couroirie the Protestants 
captured that famous jester of Henris 
Third and Fourth, called Chicot, and made 
immortal in the romance of Dumas fils. 
[33] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The sun was casting long shadows as we 
reluctantly turned the bonnet of our car 
toward Tours; in the distance the Madonna 
on the keep of Montebazon towered black 
against the sky, then the spires of the Ca- 
thedral at Tours came into view stained a 
deep crimson by the wonderful western 
glow. 

After dinner we went for a glimpse of the 
Cathedral and had a heavenly few minutes; 
the evening star, large and lustrous, hung 
between the spires and there was a mist 
about the fane which was most beautiful. 



34 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



IV 



FROM TOURS TO CHINON AND SAUMUR 

August 20th. Awaking early we quickly- 
dressed and hurried to the Cathedral and 
oh! how wonderfully beautiful it was, the 
soft grey colouring of its tall, tall front 
against the faint blue sky of the early 
morning. Inside it was very dark, just the 
altar candles to light up the arches which 
faded away in a mystery of shadows. We 
returned to the hotel for breakfast, collected 
our traps, and then made a last visit to the 
Cathedral. The sun was pouring through 
the magnificent stained glass windows, 
throwing a myriad of colours on the beauti- 
ful tomb of the children of Charles Eighth 
and Anne of Brittany. 

The figures are of white marble and there 
are little angels at the heads and feet. The 
carved towers of this Cathedral of Saint 
Gatien are 226 and 229 feet, respectively, its 
fagade is most lavishly decorated and Henri 
Second is reported to have said of it that, 

[35] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

"It was a jewel to which only the casket 
was wanting." The so-called house of Tris- 
tan the Hermit, known as the Maison des 
Pendus (of the hanged) from the numerous 
executions which took place there, of which 
the stout nails on the fagade are memorials, 
is built of red brick with grey stone trim- 
mings cunningly carved. Unfortunately, 
it is fast going to ruin which is to be re- 
gretted, for it ranks in interest with the 
Maison Gouin and the Hotel Semblan- 

The birthplace of Balzac is in the Rue 
National, number 39, and his statue faces 
the Place-du-Palais-de- Justice. 

The Abbey of Saint Martin fell during 
the years of the Revolution, a street was cut 
through the n^ve, so now the two dismem- 
bered parts and a gallery of one of the clois- 
ters are the only remains of that immense 
basilica and present a solitary appearance. 
The Tour Charlemagne, so called because 
Luitgard, the third wife of Charlemagne, was 
buried beneath it, adjoined the north tran- 
sept of the church ;^ the Tour I'Horloge stood 
to the right of the west portal. These two 
towers brought to mind the pathetic story 

[36] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

of the "Cure de Tours" who dwelt in the 
shadow of the great fane. 

In the Rue Descartes is the new basiUca 
of Saint Martin, built in the Romano- 
Byzantine style, by Lalou. 

The Maison Gouin has an almost pure 
white stone facade facing a courtyard, and 
is a mass of lovely lacework carvings, re- 
stored so carefully they look of recent date. 
The Hotel de Semblangay is another fine 
old house, and the graceful fountain of 
Beaume, the work of Michel Colombe, is a 
treasure of architectural art. 

The road to Lengeais has the Loire on one 
side and hills of vineyards, in shades of 
green, gold and red, on the other. Soon we 
reached the Chateau of Luynes, owned by 
the Duke of the same name. The apart- 
ments are closed to visitors and the grounds 
may be visited only after midday. As we 
were too early for the latter privilege we 
contented ourselves with the view of the 
house which presents an imposing appear- 
ance pitched high above the borders of the 
river, with its massive round pepper-box 
towers, with thick counterforts, which give 
it a formidable but inelegant appearance. 

[37l 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Luynes retains precious souvenirs of the 
Roman occupation and in the middle ages 
was called "Maille," and was the cradle of 
the family of that name, who owned it during 
four centuries, from the eleventh to the six- 
teenth. Toward 1501, the lands of Maille 
passed by marriage to the house of Laval; 
in 1619 it was purchased by Charles Albert 
of Luynes, Keeper of the Seals and one of 
the favourites of Louis Thirteenth, who 
created it a dukedom for him. 

A little more than halfway between 
Luynes and Langeais are two other an- 
cient buildings, the more interesting being 
the Pile of Cinq Mars, a solid tower without 
doors or windows ninety-five feet high and 
about fifteen feet in diameter, crowned by 
four small pyramids. It is probably of Ro- 
man origin and is supposed to be a funeral 
monument or beacon marking the conflu- 
ence of the Loire and Cher. The other is 
the ruins of the Chateau of the Marquis of 
Cinq Mars, also a favourite of Louis Thir- 
teenth, who was beheaded after being tor- 
tured, along with his friend De Thou at 
Lyons in 1642, for having conspired against 
Richelieu. After the execution of Cinq 
[38] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Mars, Richelieu had the Chateau " razed to 
the height of infamy." The ruins consist of 
two cylindrical towers and portions of a huge 
wall which at one time must have been a 
formidable stronghold, judging by its towers 
and its commanding position. At present 
its aspect is most peaceful, little houses are 
clustered at its base and its sides are a con- 
venient support for sheds and storehouses 
for the farmers and vine growers. 

All along the road from Tours to Lang- 
eais are flourishing vineyards, the houses of 
the growers cut in the solid rock of the hill 
sides, and it was a novel experience to see a 
stove-pipe coming through a mass of foliage 
or in the centre of a flower bed, indicating a 
cave or room beneath. 

At Langeais, we were pursued by a man 
on a bicycle who urged us to have dejeuner 
at his inn. We followed him and entered 
a sweetly scented garden beyond a court- 
yard, where we lunched amidst a bower of 
shrubs, the only thing that marred our 
pleasure being a swarm of bees that hovered 
about us, much to the amusement of the 
little maid who served us and who kept as- 
suring us that they would not "^zV." 

[39] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The Chateau of Langeais, which com- 
pletely dominated the town to which it 
gives its name, existed as far back as the 
fifteenth century when it was known as 
Alangavia. The old chateau was built by 
Fulques the Black, Conte d'Anjou, and the 
new edifice was erected by Jean Bourre, 
minister of Louis Eleventh about 1540. 
Among the historical events which have 
taken place at the chateau mention must be 
made of the drawing up of the Customs of 
Touraine by Charles Seventh, and the most 
important of all, the marriage of Charles 
Eighth and Anne of Brittany December 16, 
1491. The domain of Langeais has been 
the property among others of Pierre de 
Brosse, barber and minister of Philippe the 
Bold, Francis d 'Orleans, son of the cele- 
brated ** bastard," then the families of de 
Bellay d'Effiat, barons of Cinq Mars, and 
finally of the Due de Luynes to whom it be- 
longed at the outbreak of the Revolution. 

Langeais was finally purchased by the 
late M. Jacques Siegfried, who presented it 
to the Institut de France after having it 
restored by the architect Lucien Roy and 
furnished in the style of its period, reserv- 
[40] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

ing, however, the use of it during the life 
of his wife and himself. 

Opposite the house once inhabited by 
Rabelais is the drawbridge, the main en- 
trance to the chateau, which is composed 
of two distinct parts. On the little prom- 
ontory, cut by the valley of the Roumer, 
there still remain the ruins of the keep of 
Fulk Nerra, the oldest of French donjons. 
At the foot of the hill is the Chateau of Jean 
Bourre, an imposing construction of the 
middle of the fifteenth century, which re- 
tains all its defensive equipment and the 
stern aspect of a feudal fortress. It is com- 
posed of two wings forming an open angle 
on its interior side looking towards the hill 
of the donjon; the exterior is perforated by 
uncommon windows crowned by machico- 
lations and has a covered watch balcony 
running around the circumference which 
is flanked by three enormous, magnificent 
towers with conical roofs. The interior 
facade, more exposed, has a less austere ap- 
pearance with its lofty dormer windows and 
the three turrets with angular spires. 

Being absolutely intact the Chateau of 
Langeais offers not only the greatest in- 
[41] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

terest for its architecture, but for its irre- 
proachable furniture in the taste of the 
period, and the artistic objects the late M. 
Siegfried collected, have, likewise, imparted 
to the chateau its animated character of 
former times and together with its ar- 
chitectural setting form a complete and 
harmonious ensemble. The former white- 
washed walls are decorated with beautiful 
paintings by Charles Lameire, inspired by 
fifteenth-century tapestries and designs in 
the Book of Hours of Anne of Brittany, a 
copy of which is in the chateau. When M. 
and Mme. Siegfried could not obtain gen- 
uine antiques of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries they had perfect copies made from 
examples in the museums, but no authentic 
specimen of those centuries was let slip if it 
made a fitting addition to the collections. 

There are fourteenth-century tapestries 
in almost every room; in the Salon des 
Fleurs the andirons are by Jean Goujon, 
the woodwork and cupboard copied from 
the models of Saint Germain I'Auxerois, a 
curious firescreen painted in grey camieu 
formerly belonged to Louise de Vaudemont, 
wife and widow of Henri Third, and formed 
[42] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

a part of the furniture in the mourning 
room occupied by the widowed Queen at 
Chenonceaux, and the Book of Hours of 
Anne of Brittany. 

The Salle des Gardes which is now used 
as the dining-room, has beautiful paving, a 
superb chimney-piece due to Francois d 'Or- 
leans, Frangois First andirons and two choir 
stalls of the fifteenth century, magnificently 
carved, which were removed from Arques. 

The Grand Salon, where the marriage of 
Anne and Charles was celebrated, has seven 
tapestries of 1535, Spanish choir stalls, a 
painting on wood of Anne and Louis Twelfth, 
Gothic chest, Anne of Austria cushions and 
a Madeleine by Henner. Langeais has very 
few pictures, but the magnificent tapestries 
more than compensate. 

The beds are mostly of the thirteenth 
century, those of the fifteenth being cum- 
bersome and not so pretty, while those of 
the thirteenth are small and beautiful. In 
all the rooms were tall vases filled with 
blooms, and from the windows facing on the 
courtyard we could see the gaily coloured 
formal gardens in front of the donjon. 

The decorative ironwork throughout the 

[43] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

building deserves careful study, the beau- 
tifully wrought knockers and bolts, also the 
torch-holders, candelabra, Italian tripods for 
holding the braziers, and the massive fire- 
dogs. 

We made the tour of the rounds, gazing 
down the machicolations, and through the 
little windows getting a curious view of the 
town and valley in the foreground and in 
the distance to the north the spires of the 
Cathedral at Tours. Below us the Chateau 
of Villandray where Philippe Augustus met 
Henry Second of England to conclude peace, 
and to the right Azay le Rideau, while 
farther on we could see the Pile and ruins 
of Cinq Mars. 

Our exit was made down the winding 
stairs of one of the towers on to the stone 
curtain enclosing the garden and once again 
we crossed the drawbridge and took the road 
to Azay le Rideau, along which, at little 
ponds were the brown peasant women 
pounding their snowy linen, and down little 
alleys between the rows of cottages we 
caught glimpses of tiny green gardens. 
Crossing the Loire we reached the Chateau 
by crossing a small bridge and entering 

[44] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the grounds between two beautifully orna- 
mented gates, found ourselves in the Court 
of Honour which is bounded on the side op- 
posite the gates by the main building with 
its beautiful staircase facade. On the right 
the Court is bounded by a wing running at 
right angles to the main building and end- 
ing with a big tower; four smaller projecting 
coiffed turrets flank the exterior corners of 
the Chateau; the other three sides must be 
seen from across the Indre, as the river 
skirts it there. 

The Chateau is one of the purest crea- 
tions of the early Renaissance period, but 
in regard to size it is a comparatively simple 
and modest construction. Being entirely 
built at one time it is a most graceful build- 
ing, completely harmonious in style. It is, 
too, so charmingly situated, its white archi- 
tecture standing out in the midst of verdant 
country moistened by the cool waters of the 
Indre. 

Azay le Rideau has no historical associa- 
tions, no tragedies have occurred within its 
walls nor has any royal procession of note 
crossed its bridge. Over the entrance door 
are the emblems of Francois First and Anne 

[45] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

of Brittany and on the ceiling of the grand 
staircase are medallions of the Kings and 
Queens of France, restored since the Revo- 
lution. 

Four of the rooms are appropriately fur- 
nished with exhibits sent from the Louvre 
and the Cluny museums as well as private 
gifts from the Barons Rothschild and others. 
During the course of repairs and removing 
modern additions, an ancient well was dis- 
covered on the site of the former kitchen. 

The first Chateau is believed to have been 
constructed about 1266 by a certain Hughes 
Ridel or Rideau, whose name is still given 
to the locality. It is said that in 1417 the 
Dauphin Charles, afterward Charles Sev- 
enth, on his journey from Chinon to Tours, 
while passing in front of the Chateau, was in- 
sulted by the Burgundy garrison stationed 
there, that he then took the place by assault, 
exterminated the offenders and burnt the 
town which, on account of this act was 
called Azay le Brule (Azay the burnt). In 
reality, nothing is absolutely known of Azay 
before its acquisition and reconstruction in 
1518 (.?) by Gilles Berthelot who at first was 
councillor and secretary to the King and 
[46] 




The Cathedral at Tours 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

later Treasurer General of Finance. Berthe- 
let having been involved in the degradation 
of Semblan^ay, Frangois First confiscated 
the Chateau, which since then has passed 
into many hands. Among other proprie- 
tors of the seventeenth century may be 
mentioned Henri de Berninghem who built 
the stables and servants' quarters, and 
adorned with paintings the grand apart- 
ments called the King's chamber, because 
Louis Fourteenth slept there. The Chateau 
was finally owned by the Biencourt family 
and the last important event in its history 
is its occupation by the Germans in 1870 to 
1871. 

Through the tiny park, across the little 
bridges over the branches of the Indre and 
among the flowers we wandered, then re- 
turning to the car sped like an arrow through 
the sleepy little town of Azay to Chinon, 
past great stretches of luxuriant vineyards, 
their vines heavy with huge bunches of his- 
cious grapes turning gold and purple in the 
laughing sunlight. We were in the heart of 
Touraine, with its market gardens, orchards 
and vineyards in every direction we turned 
our gaze. 

[47] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

At the Castle of Chinon, the pulling of a 
bell rope sent forth a silvery tinkle which 
was answered by a very young girl who 
admitted us through a small door in the 
entrance gate and allowed us to wander at 
will among the ruins. Looking over the 
battlements we saw the little town, with 
its old houses of wood and stone, clustered 
beneath our feet and the Vienne flowing 
beside it sparkling in the sun for mile upon 
mile. 

The site of the Chateau of Chinon was 
originally a Celtic "Oppidum" and after- 
wards a Roman "Castrum." In 427 Saint 
Brice founded a parochial church there and 
later Saint Mexme created a monastery, 
building there a second church which was 
afterwards converted into an ecclesiastical 
college. Clovis made Chinon one of the 
fortresses of his kingdom and during the 
tenth and eleventh centuries Chinon was 
the property of the Comtes of Blois, one 
of whom (Thibaut Third) surrendered it to 
Geoifrey Martel, Conte d'Anjou. It was 
thus that in the twelfth century the town 
became part of the possessions of Henry 
Second, King of England. This monarch 
[48] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

preferred Chlnon to all other continental 
towns, often resided there and died at the 
Chateau in 1189. 

According to local traditions his son, 
Richard Coeur de Lion, mortally wounded 
at the siege of Charles at Limousin, was con- 
veyed to Chinon and he too died there. It 
is certain, however, that he, like his father, 
was buried at Fontevrault, where his statue 
and tomb are still to be seen. 

When Philippe Augustus united Tou- 
raine to France, Chinon only surrendered 
after a twelve months' siege. Under Philip 
le Long one hundred and sixty Jews, ac- 
cused of having poisoned the wells of the 
town, were burned on an island in the 
Vienne. In 1428 Charles Seventh as- 
sembled the States General there whilst 
the English were besieging Orleans and at 
Chinon, too, Jeanne d'Arc was first intro- 
duced to the King and decided to relieve 
Orleans. Under Louis Eleventh Philippe 
de Commines was governor of the Chateau 
of the town, then in 1630 it became the 
property of Cardinal Richelieu whose de- 
scendants retained the seigniorial rights un- 
til the Revolution. 

[49] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The Chateau is composed of three for- 
tresses, quite distinct from each other, sep- 
arated by deep ditches and erected in one 
straight line from east to west, on a lengthy 
oblong surrounded by escarpments over- 
looking the right bank of the river. The 
Chateau Saint Georges is the least ancient 
and yet the most dilapidated of the three. 
This was a sort of an advance fortress and 
was added in the twelfth century to the orig- 
inal chateau by Henry Plantagenet. It 
stands outside and in front of the present 
encircling wall which has been razed to the 
level of the interior grounds . Vineyards now 
occupy its site. 

From the Pavilion I'Horloge of the four- 
teenth century, through the gate of which 
we entered, we visited the Chateau du 
Milieu (Middle Chateau) built on the 
ruins of the Roman fort, remains of which 
have been discovered showing portions of 
the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
tury buildings. It was restored under 
Charles Sixth, Charles Seventh and Louis 
Eleventh. Its enciente, almost rectangular 
and very long, has been converted into laid 
out gardens. On the summit of the ram- 
[50] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

parts, overlooking the town and the valley, 
stood the Grand Logis, a royal dwelling of 
which only the walls remain, the best pre- 
served portions being the chimneys. It 
was in that apartment that Henry Second 
of England died in 1189, after receiving the 
news that his favourite son John had fallen 
away from him. The famous interview be- 
tween Jeanne d'Arc and Charles Seventh 
took place in the Grand Salle du Trone 
about two and a half centuries later, and 
the Maid singled out the King from 
amongst the crowd of courtiers with whom 
he had purposely mingled. From the eighth 
of March until the twentieth of April, 1429, 
Jeanne occupied the tower of the Chateau 
du Coudray, under the guard of Guillame 
Belier, a lieutenant of the captain of Chinon. 
In front of the wall opposite the town 
stands the Tour des Chiens, and at the 
north-west corner the Tour d'Argenton 
which contains the prison cells. 

The Grand Logis, flanked by a square 
tower at its exterior corner, is separated by 
a deep ditch from the third fortress (The 
Chateau du Coudray) to which access is 
gained by a bridge. Its walls, likewise laid 
[51] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

out as gardens, have the form of a trapezium 
flanked with formidable towers. At the 
corner of the ditch stands the magnificent 
Tour de Boissy of the thirteenth century, 
polygonal and oblong in form, terminated 
by a platform with battlements, a fanciful 
restoration. 

The Tour du Moulin is the tallest and 
slenderest of the towers, and on its ground 
floor is a pretty arched room enclosing a 
Roman stela, some cannon balls and lapi- 
dary remains. 

We wandered about through a tangle of 
shrubs, talking of the Maid and of Agnes 
Sorel who once had her appointed apart- 
ment there as one of the Queen's maids of 
honour. Later, winning the entire affection 
of the King (Charles Seventh), she was pro- 
vided with a house in the neighbourhood, to 
which a subterranean passage was made to 
connect with the castle, enabling the King 
to visit her in secret. 

The town, with its picturesque, winding 
streets and stairways, suggesting Italian 
villages, has an equestrienne statue of 
Jeanne, and on the tree-lined quay is a 
statue of Rabelais surrounded by flower 
[52] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

beds. In the vine-covered courtyard of the 
Hotel de France we had some sparkling 
wine of Saumur, while the soft breeze 
tinkled the little bells hanging beneath the 
gallery of the old feudal Inn. 

Crossing the Vienne we took a last back- 
ward glance at Chinon seated majestically 
on the hills, then pursued our way to Sau- 
mur, along roads that were less straight 
but more attractive, through tiny villages 
possessing houses of the smallest order but 
each having a blaze of old-fashioned flowers 
in the miniature gardens, and rose vines and 
creepers clambering over their walls. At 
Montsoreau we again joined the Loire. 
Dumas ^/j has perpetuated the name of this 
place by naming one of his novels after the 
lady of the Chateau (La Dame de Mont- 
soreau), and what one of us has not been 
thrilled by reading of the adventures of 
that beautiful woman, and the heroic de- 
fense of Bussy d'Amboise against the com- 
bined attack of Montsoreau and his band 
of ruffians and the cut-throats in the pay of 
d'Epernon.f* Long ago it took its place as 
one of the masterpieces of this writer of his- 
torical romances. 

[S3] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

It was too late to visit the Chateau so we 
continued our flight to Saumur. There our 
hotel faced the river and from our windows 
we had a perfect view of the Loire under a 
starry sky. 



54 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



V 



ALONG THE LOIRE TO NANTES 

August 2ist. Great disappointment was 
ours, on awaking, to see the rain pouring 
pitilessly from a leaden sky, which gave us 
no hope for a clear afternoon. However, 
being obliged to continue our journey, we 
tried to be cheerful. We visited the church 
of Notre-Dame de Nantilly, a remarkable 
edifice of the commencement of the twelfth 
century, the Normanesque nave of which 
was founded by Louis Eleventh. It has a 
wide aisle of the Flamboyant style, and a 
small private oratory delightfully carved 
which has been converted into a chapel con- 
taining a baptismal font. The crypt has a 
marble bas-relief of the Renaissance, an ep- 
itaph to Tiephanie, a nurse of King Rene of 
Anjou, a crosier of Gilles de Tyr, Custodian 
of the Seals under Saint Louis, and tapes- 
tries of the fourteenth, fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries. In the church, which was 
gaudily decorated for the feast of some 

[55] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

saint, Mass was being held. The organ 
sounded as old as the church looked, but 
the sweet intoning of the priest held our 
attention and we tarried until the benedic- 
tion was pronounced. 

The Chateau, admirably situated above 
the town on the promontory commanding 
the junction of the Loire and the Thouet, 
was founded by Fulques Nerra in the tenth 
century, on the site of the Tour du Tronc. 
But it has been repaired and transformed 
many times and its appearance at present is 
that of a monument of the period of transi- 
tion between the military architecture and 
that of the Renaissance. After having given 
shelter to the Governors of Saumur during 
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 
it was converted into a state prison, under 
the Revolution, the First Empire and the 
Restoration. 

The deluge of rain prevented a walk on 
the ramparts, the exterior being the only 
portions visitors are permitted to inspect. 
The Chateau has recently been acquired by 
the town and with the help of the Adminis- 
istration des Beaux-Arts, its restoration has 
been undertaken, also a museum installed 
[56] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

within the walls. Formerly, the building 
consisted of four large wings, but one has 
entirely disappeared, leaving the central 
courtyard open to the valley of the Loire. 

We had a wet ride to Angers but pre- 
ferred a soaking rather than enclose the car 
in curtains and forfeit a view of the damp- 
ened landscape. Just below Saumur and 
almost extending to the Ponts-de-Ce, are 
the cliff dwellers. These people excavate 
the hills into wine caves and dwelling-houses, 
which present a curious aspect. These ex- 
cavations, the old church of Les Rosiers, 
dating from the thirteenth century, with its 
fine Renaissance steeple, and the slate 
quarries of Treleze were the only interest- 
ing things on the way. 

The landscape suggested a Turner, a mist 
over everything and the delicate shades of 
green brought out by the heavy rain. 

After lunching at the Cheval Blanc at 
"black" Angers, we went to the Cathedral 
of Saint Maurice, an interesting Gothic 
and Romanesque building dating from the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The fa- 
cade is adorned with carvings of the twelfth 
century; the stained glass windows are mag- 
[57] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

nificent works of the twelfth, thirteenth and 
fifteenth centuries, and the tapestries are of 
the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries. 
The immense organ loft is supported by 
Caryatides of the sixteenth century and the 
antique Holy- Water basin at the left of the 
main entrance, said to have been executed 
in Byzantium, is of antique green marble 
supported by two white marble lions. 

In the vault beneath the choir are the 
tombs of King Rene of Anjou and his wife 
Jeanne de Laval. 

It was Saturday and the church was being 
decorated for the next day by the nuns who 
were placing exquiste lace altar-cloths and 
gold ornaments on the high altar and in 
each chapel. One feels like an intruder 
when walking about the churches in France, 
where, at all hours of the day the people of 
the towns go to devoutly tell their beads 
or confess to their priests. 

The Bishop's Palace, where next we went, 
dates from the twelfth century, but has been 
thoroughly restored by Voillet le Due in 
1862-65 ^^^ iiow forms an admirable ex- 
ample of a mediaeval mansion. The back 
of the building is most interesting and 
[58] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

in the same street are two old, carved tim- 
ber houses. 

At the Logis Berrault, which is now a 
museum, we could see the sculptures only, 
as the picture gallery was closed. It is an 
interesting mansion of the latter portion of 
the fifteenth century, built by Oliver Ber- 
rault, Treasurer of Brittany. 

The black-banded Castle is one of the 
most wonderful buildings of its kind in ex- 
istence, standing on the site of the primitive 
palace of the Roman times where the magis- 
trates forming the Curia of Juliomagus met. 
It is built in a schistous rock overlooking 
the left bank of the Maine, and its walls, 
made of the same sombre material prolong 
the escarpment which serves as a course. 
Although the tops of its chess-board towers 
have been removed, its bastions knocked 
down and its moat partly filled up, its ap- 
pearance, especially on the river side, is 
formidable and imposing. Its encircling 
wall forms an irregular pentagon flanked 
by seventeen large round towers; at the 
north angle stands the high tower called 
Tour du Diable, du Nord or du Moulin. 

In the interior is the Chapel, built by Yo- 

[59] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

lande of Aragon in the fifteenth century, 
and the apartment in which, it is said. King 
Rene was born. The Chapel is now used as 
a shop. Almost in front of the Chateau is 
the statue of King Rene by David d 'An- 
gers, the lower pedestal decorated with 
twelve bronze statuettes of Kings and 
Queens. 

In the crooked narrow streets of Angers 
are many old houses of stone and wood; the 
Tour Saint Aubin once formed part of the 
Abbaye de Saint Aubin, and the buildings 
altered in the nineteenth century are now 
used as the Prefecture. The old abbey 
church of the Ron^eray is closed to the pub- 
lic, but La Trinite, contiguous to it, can be 
inspected and is most interesting with its 
curious arches over the nave, winding stair- 
case in wood of the Renaissance period and 
high altar, ornamented with its bas-reliefs 
in gilt wood of the sixteenth century. Be- 
low the nave, a staircase passes under the 
choir of the adjacent Rongeray church, to 
a small crypt with three naves containing 
a bronze statue of the Virgin (of the elev- 
enth century), the shrine of a pilgrimage, 
called Notre Dame de Rongeray. 
[60] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Leaving the magpie coloured town of An- 
gers we started towards Nantes, passing 
Champtoce, where stand the ruins of a fif- 
teenth century chateau, once the abode of 
Gilles de Laval, Seigneur de Retz notorious 
for his excesses and cruelty, also known as 
"Barbe Bleu" and supposed to be the orig- 
inal of the Blue Beard of the nursery tale. 
He was executed at Nantes in 1440. The 
lichen covered ruins are time worn and 
riddled, but picturesque to a degree. 

As we drew near to Nantes the valley of 
the Loire grew more irregular, the trees 
have a stunted look and there is not so 
much vegetation; the people differ very 
much in their appearance from the Tour- 
aine peasants, the Bretons having many 
characteristics of the Welsh people. Their 
costumes and head-dresses too are very dif- 
ferent from the men and women of Tour- 
aine. 

On entering Nantes we passed the Cathe- 
dral of Saint Pierre, and the beautiful mod- 
ern fountain, in granite, by Driollet. The 
marble statue on top of the fountain repre- 
sents the town of Nantes, the bronze ones 
the Loire and its principal affluents, the 
[61] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Sevre, Erde, Cher, and Loire. After din- 
ing, we went to a vaudeville entertain- 
ment (?) but left almost as soon as we 
entered the place, preferring the orchestra 
at our hotel to the poor entertainment of- 
fered at the theatre. 



[62 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



VI 



IN BRITTANY 

August 22nd, It is noisy in the Place 
Graslin and we were awakened early by the 
clang of the trams and boys calling the sale 
of their newspapers. 

Proceeding to the Castle of Nantes we 
found a most imposing building, dating 
mainly from the end of the fifteenth cen- 
tury. It formerly had seven towers, but 
one of them being used as a powder mag- 
azine was blown up in 1800. 

From the courtyard one gets a view of 
the Grand Logis, a Renaissance edifice re- 
stored, also the Salle des Gardes. The castle 
was long used as a state prison, and Cardinal 
de Retz, Fouquet and the Duchess de Berri, 
the mother of Count Chambord, were con- 
fined there. The Duchess was arrested at 
number 3 Rue Mathelin-Rodin, after lying 
concealed for the best part of a day in a 
small recess behind a chimney on the third 
floor. Sixteen hours she remained in hiding 
[63] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

and would never have been found, if the 
gendarmes had not lighted that famous 
blaze. Again and again her dress caught 
fire against the hot iron plate, to be put 
out by the Duchess, then the smoke of 
newspapers, added to the fire to prevent its 
dying, began to suffocate her, it was cer- 
tain death if she stayed, so weeping tears of 
rage that dried upon her cheeks blistered by 
the heat, she revealed herself to the gen- 
darmes. 

In the Castle of Nantes one of the cere- 
monies of the marriage of Anne of Brittany 
and Charles Eighth of France was solem- 
nized, in 1491, thus uniting the Duchy of 
Brittany with the crown of France. 

To Nantes Carrier was sent to suppress 
the rebellion. The monster went far beyond 
his instructions however, and ordered the 
execution, without trial of all who had been 
imprisoned, and, finding that the execution- 
er's axe, and the fusillading of hundreds at 
a time were too inexpeditious modes of ac- 
complishing his cruel commands, invented 
the Noyades, or drownings en masse^ which 
were effected by scuttling barges filled with 
prisoners bound together. But at last he 
[64] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

himself was denounced, recalled and sent 
to the guillotine. 

Nantes is filled with numerous bridges 
over the Loire and the Erde. It is one of 
the most flourishing commercial and indus- 
trial towns of France, and with regard to 
its population ranks seventh in the country. 
Fine houses of the eighteenth century line 
its quays. 

In the Cathedral is the tomb of Frangois 
Second, last Duke of Brittany and his wife 
Marguerite de Foix, a very elaborate work 
in the Renaissance style by Michel Col- 
lombe, the designer of the beautiful fountain 
at Tours. The figure of Justice at the right- 
hand corner is a portrait of Anne of Brit- 
tany, daughter of the deceased, who erected 
this monument in their honour. 

The Cathedral is beautiful without and 
within, the lofty nave producing a very im- 
posing effect. Under the organ are high re- 
liefs and statues of the fifteenth century, 
representing scenes from the lives of the 
early Patriarchs, and Bishops and a Duke of 
Brittany. Some of the windows contain 
ancient stained glass, but there is little, 
aside from the tomb of the parents of Anne 
[6s] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

of Brittany and that of Lamoriciere, a native 
of Nantes, to claim attention. 

In the Place Louis Seize is a column ninety- 
feet high, surmounted by a statue of Louis 
Sixteenth. The Jardin des Plantes is hand- 
somely laid out as a public promenade with 
an elaborate arrangement of lakes, water- 
falls, rocks and grottoes, besides fine groves 
and avenues of magnolias. 

From Nantes to Vannes was a glorious 
ride; a few clouds scudded across a deep 
blue sky, and the little streams, swollen by 
the rain of yesterday, danced through the 
verdant fields which were studded with wild 
flowers. 

At every small village the men and women 
were garbed in their best costumes, and each 
place differed a little in the style of the 
head-dresses of both sexes. There seemed 
to be fairs at a number of the villages and 
the peasants all in a merry mood were either 
walking in groups or riding in pairs in two- 
wheeled carts. 

At the hotel at Vannes we were made so 
welcome that we regretted that we could re- 
main for luncheon only. Our coffee was 
served to us at a small table on the sidewalk 
[66] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

in front of the hotel. While sitting there, a 
dog stopped in front of me and I threw him 
a lump of sugar, which he sniifed and left, 
and as I glanced again I saw a little old 
woman stoop to get it. When she saw me 
looking she smiled in an apologetic sort of 
way and asked if she might have it. Need- 
less to say I emptied the entire contents of 
the sugar bowl into her hands, much to the 
disgust of the waiter, but her smile and 
courtesy and the look of gratitude in her eyes 
will ever be remembered. 

In Brittany, one sees and marvels at the 
wondrous faces of the women, the pure, 
sweet modest countenances of the girls, 
expressions even the older ones seem to re- 
tain. There are holy brightnesses in their 
eyes, and on their lips, those doors to the 
borders of which the soul alone can come 
from which it looks out and all but shows 
itself. Goodness, kindness, as well as a 
cloistral spirituality radiate from their faces. 
The women are noted for their faithfulness; 
husbands and lovers are away fishing for 
months and sometimes a year, but the 
wives and sweethearts look at no other men; 
their spare time is spent in the churches 
[67] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

praying for the safe return of their loved 
ones. There in the churches one sees them 
on bended knees, their market baskets be- 
side them. I think they never pass a house 
of prayer without entering, and in Brittany 
the churches are legion, each small village 
having several. 

The country is poor and the houses of 
the peasants and fishermen are for the most 
part small and one storied with steep, 
thatched roofs, the windows (often without 
glass) are small, few in number and not in- 
frequently lacking in the poorest houses. 
Among the better class of farmers there are 
more pretentious homes, but even in such a 
house we find striking evidence of the simple 
life led by these people. 

Vannes is the capital of the Department, 
and the seat of a Bishop. Through the nar- 
row streets of the not especially picturesque 
town we went to the cathedral, which is 
very disappointing with its many styles of 
architecture. The church never very fine, 
has, by many changes, lost much of its orig- 
inal character and interest. In the north 
transept is the tomb of Saint Vincent Fer- 
rier, and above it is his bust in silver. He 
[68] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

was born at Valence in 1357, and in 1374 
entered his novitiate among the Domini- 
cans. He was sent to Barcelona and Lerida 
to give lessons in philosophy, but aban- 
doned the same and devoted himself to 
preaching, and rambled through Spain, 
Italy, England, Scotland and Ireland as 
a revivalist preacher, but as in such coun- 
tries he was only partially understood, the 
effect of his sermons was lost. He spent 
two years in Brittany where he cannot have 
been of any use, as the peasants could not un- 
derstand French. He died at Vannes on 
the fifth of April, 1419, but the Pardon is on 
the first Sunday in September. We were 
unfortunate in being just too early or just 
too late for the Pardon in each place we vis- 
ited. The Pardons are the religious gather- 
ings of the people, not often in the towns, 
but about some chapel on an island, on a 
hill or in a wood. There may be seen the 
costumes in all their holiday beauty. We 
were told that almost every Pardon has a 
character of its own, and a description of 
one would by no means cover all. 

Along a gently rolling road we reached 
Auray, where we left our luggage at the ho- 
[69] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

tel and continued on to Locmariaquer, a 
small seaport on the Bay of Morbihan, all 
indigo blue, dotted with white caps. Here 
we motored about the neighbourhood and 
saw the most remarkable megalithic monu- 
ments, the chief one being the Mane-Lud 
into which we entered and saw queer in- 
scriptions carved on the walls, the Men-er- 
Hroeck, a menhir originally seventy feet 
high, but now overthrown and broken, and 
the two dolmans known as the Dol-ar-Marc'- 
hadouiren and the Mane Rutual. These 
dolmens and menhirs are on the way to 
Carnac, which is celebrated for its ancient 
remains. The seventeenth century church, 
dedicated to Saint Cornely, patron of horned 
cattle, has a curious porch, and close by is 
the fountain of Saint Cornely. A "gal gal" 
or tumulus sixty-five feet high and two 
hundred and sixty feet in diameter, con- 
sisting chiefly of stone heaped upon a col- 
umn is called Mont Saint Michel, and from 
the top we had a perfect view of the " Lines " 
of Carnac. 

These famous alignments are at the north 
of the village on the road to Auray, and con- 
sist of three principal groups, containing 
[70] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

hundreds of standing stones (it is said that 
originally there were from twelve to fifteen 
thousand) arranged on the moor in the form 
of a quincunx and forming nine or ten ave- 
nues. Some of these stones are fully thir- 
teen feet high and are estimated to weigh at 
least forty or fifty tons. These dolmens 
were the sepulchres, family or tribal, and 
the alignments consist of stones erected by 
members of the tribe, or families belonging 
to the tribe, in honour of the several dead 
who were laid in the dolmens. Isolated 
menhirs were either memorials to the dead, 
or boundary marks between tribal lands 
and all dolmens were originally buried un- 
der cairns or tumuli. When we stopped, 
several children ran eagerly about the auto- 
mobile saying "speak English," or "a pen- 
nee," but we soon discovered that those 
words were all the English they knew. 

Returning to Auray we went to the 
church of Saint Anne, of which the following 
story is related. In 1623 a peasant dug up 
an image, probably one of the Deae Matres 
of Gallo-Roman times so common in Brit- 
tany, at a place called Ker-Anna. He 
jumped to the conclusion that it repre- 
[71] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

sented the Mother of the Blessed Virgin. 
The CarmeHtes hearing of it resolved to 
build a convent and church on the spot, 
which they did in 1 645, where pilgrimages 
would be made, thereby starting quite a 
paying proposition. In front of the church 
is the Sancta Scala, copied from that at 
Rome, and indulgenced with nine years for 
every step ascended by pilgrims on their 
knees, but apart from this the church is too 
modern to be of any special interest. In 
the "Close" are numerous stalls where the 
picturesquely costumed women sell candles, 
small images, rosaries and post-cards. Near 
the church is a bronze statue of the Count 
of Chambord. 



72 




Old houses at Morlaix 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 
VII 

FROM AURAY TO QUIMPER 

August 2^d, Market day in Auray is 
most entertaining. Early one hears the rum- 
ble of the two-wheeled carts and the clatter 
of the sahots, then the chatter of the peas- 
ants as they display their wares. Some of the 
women had only two pats of butter, others 
a pair of chickens, others a few vegetables, 
others a dozen or two of eggs and others a 
piece of homespun cloth. The buyers would 
go from one seller to another, tasting the 
butter and examining the chickens, not pur- 
chasing until they thought they had found 
the very best in the market, then clatter 
away smiling at their success. 

A shop opposite the market contained 
some handsome carved wood furniture at 
most moderate prices. 

On a hill behind the hotel we ascended a 
tower getting a beautiful view of Auray 
and the surrounding country. 

At Lorient, a most uninteresting place, 
[73] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

we lunched and hurried on to Quimperle, a 
most charmingly situated town at the junc- 
tion of the Elle and Isore. Up steep streets, 
some ascended by steps, we found the 
church of Saint Michel which stands boldly 
out on the summit of the hill on the right- 
hand side of the river Lai'ta, sustained on 
massive substructures. It contains one 
exquisite window of the Flamboyant style, 
and the north porch is superb. Against the 
west end of the church houses are built, 
and inquiry revealed that the edifice had 
never had a western entrance as is cus- 
tomary in other churches. 

In the lower town is the church of Saint 
Croix, circular and Romanesque; the Lady 
Chapel is in the centre of the church, at the 
top of a dozen steps, and beneath it is the 
crypt. Against the west wall is plastered a 
fine Renaissance rood-screen. 

It is a short distance from Quimperle to 
Quimper, and we were fortunate to reach 
the latter place just in advance of a heavy 
shower. 

This beautiful town is situated at the 
juncture of the Stier and Odet rivers, at 
about a distance of fifteen miles from the 
[74] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

sea, and has a small port. It Is a bright and 
thriving city, the seat of a bishop and of 
the manufacture of the Breton faience, a 
pretty ware copied from the old Rouen 
pottery, but with original developments. 

Our room in the hotel faced on the 
charming esplanade by the side of the river 
Odet, and across the river, on the other es- 
planade, a travelling circus afforded us 
much amusement, as the rain did not 
dampen the ardour of the acrobats, nor the 
visitors' enthusiasm over the carrousel, to 
whose wheezing tunes we were lulled to 
sleep. 



75 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 
VIII 

FROM QUIMPER TO BREST AND MORLAIX 

August 24th, The great glory of Quimper 
is the Cathedral of Saint Corentin one of 
the finest Gothic edifices in Brittany. The 
portals are richly sculptured, and we had 
ample time to study them, as we had tire 
trouble just in front of the church. The 
twin spires are imposing and beautiful. The 
interior is most peculiar as the choir leans 
considerably to the left, and the junction 
with the transepts is awkwardly effected. 
The Lady Chapel is in the purest geomet- 
rical style, and the clerestory windows are 
filled with beautiful old glass representing 
saints, but the modern glass is detestable. 
We tried, unsuccessfully, to find the crucifix, 
that our guide-book told us was in the third 
chapel on the north aisle and which was sup- 
posed to have emitted drops of blood when a 
man perjured himself before it. The high 
altar is a gorgeous affair of gilded bronze 
adorned with statuettes and high-reliefs. 
[76] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The museum contains a large group of 
lay-figures dressed in the various costumes 
of Brittany and an admirable collection of 
paintings, many of them by Breton artists. 

At Landerneau we crossed the mediaeval 
bridge which spans the Elorn, the valley of 
which presents many scenes of considerable 
beauty. The rocks are of white quartz break- 
ing through the leafy coverts of the hills 
and on its banks is a quaint old mill. The 
town possesses a few old houses and the 
church of Saint Houarden which has a 
beautiful tower and a superb porch. There is 
also a church dedicated to Thomas a Becket. 
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 
Landerneau was a great artistic centre, and 
its architects and sculptures are responsible 
for the splendid works In the region around 
the Elorn valley. 

The ride to Brest was made most disa- 
greeable by the presence of rain and fog, 
and on arriving there we could see little of 
the fine harbour, and its five lighthouses. 

Slowly we crossed by ferry to Plougastel, 

a village noted for the picturesque costumes 

of its people. Of course we saw none of 

them for the weather was far too inclement 

[77] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

for the peasants to be out of doors, and 
those who were obliged to be in the streets 
were clad most plainly. Up a steep muddy 
hill we found the churchyard, in which is a 
most marvellous Calvary consisting of an 
arcade under a platform crowded with stat- 
ues and surrounded by a frieze, carved with 
subjects in bas-relief. The modern church 
w^as so cold and dark that we remained there 
but a few minutes before continuing our 
journey to Morlaix. 

The fog had lifted, so the drive was a very 
beautiful one. Just beyond Plougastel we 
struck upon an elevated open stretch of road 
with wide prospects; below us the silvery 
Elorn wound its gleaming way between its 
mossy banks to the sea; and over the river, 
through the mist, we could just glimpse the 
dim outlines of the opposite hills. Gradually 
we dipped down and crossing the river fol- 
lowed along the sweet valley of the Elorn, 
twisting and turning, until the viaduct that 
spans and dwarfs Morlaix was reached. 



78 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



IX 



ALONG THE COAST TO DINARD 

August 2Sth. A soft, sweet, balmy morn- 
ing beckoned us forth to investigate queer 
old Morlaix, whose quaint medieval houses 
are tucked away in the narrow streets, at 
picturesque angles, leaning towards one an- 
other as for protection. Most of them have 
interior courts, with galleries about them, 
the newels of the stairs effectively carved. 
The house of the Duchess Anne of Brittany, 
built in 1500, is in the Rue des Nobles, and 
near the Place Thiers is the church of Saint 
Melaine, with its beautiful carvings on the 
fonts, organ case and vaulting, dating chiefly 
from the fifteenth century. 

In the Rue des Fontaines are two Holy 
Wells and at Notre Dame des Fontaines, 
according to legend, a disciple of Joseph 
of Arimathea, preached and set up an image 
of the Blessed Virgin. 

Through an uncultivated wild country, 
along a deep ravine we sped to Guingamp, 

[79] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

a pleasantly situated town in green sur- 
roundings, with the little river Trieux flow- 
ing through it. The most interesting fea- 
ture of the town is the church of Notre Dame 
de Bonsecours, which is indebted to a mirac- 
ulous image for the lavish expenditure upon 
it. The image stands in the north porch, 
has been accorded a gold crown by the Pope 
and been profusely indulgenced. The church 
was formerly the chapel of the Counts of 
Penthievre. Its interior is most interest- 
ing, the vaulting of the choir being supported 
by flying buttresses within the church. 
The transepts are lighted by rose windows 
of the fourteenth century, but the other 
windows are filled with modern glass over- 
loaded with colour. There are very quaint 
houses here too, the one next the church 
once belonged to the Duchess d'Amboise. 

At Saint Brieuc we lunched, then walked 
to the Croix de Sante to view the pictur- 
esque ravine of the Gouet and the Bay of 
Saint Brieuc. Returning through the ill- 
built, irregular streets flanked with old 
houses of carved wood and plaster, we 
visited the Cathedral, a low, unattractive 
looking edifice. Though disappointing ex- 
[80] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

teriorly it has dignity within, and contains 
the tomb of Saint William, Bishop of Brieuc, 
an amiable, harmless man, very considerate 
of the poor and suffering. He was elected 
bishop in 1220, but soon quarreled with 
Pierre Mauclerc, Duke of Brittany, who 
drove him from his See, and obliged him to 
take refuge at Poitiers. In 1230, he returned 
to his diocese and at once began rebuilding 
his Cathedral. The chapel and fountain of 
Saint Brieuc are Flamboyant in style and 
very beautiful. 

On the way to Dinard we stopped at 
Lamballe, another picturesque town lying 
on a hill, crowned by the church of Notre 
Dame. This interesting and handsome 
building is of the thirteenth to the fifteenth 
centuries, and was originally the chapel of 
the castle of the Dukes of Penthievre which 
was destroyed by Cardinal Richelieu in 1626. 
Princess Lamballe, the devoted, unfortunate 
favourite of Marie Antoinette, was the 
widow of the last Duke of Penthievre. 

We reached Dinard at four o'clock, and 

had a delightful walk along the Greve de 

I'Ecluse. The sky was cloudless, and the 

sea a cerulean blue. The shore was lined 

[81I 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

with bath-chairs, and huge umbrellas of vari- 
ous colours, under which the children played 
in the sand. At the Casino we had tea to 
the strains of an Hungarian orchestra. 

After dinner we had another walk along 
the shore, and the main avenue, where such 
beautiful jewellery was displayed in the 
smallest of shops, also ivories and other fas- 
cinating articles, to tempt one to loosen the 
purse strings. At the Casino we indulged 
in ''La Boule," and under the tutelage of a 
friendly Englishman we came away winners 
of several francs. His system worked very 
well that evening, but another time was most 
disastrous to our exchecquer. 



[82 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



X 



DINARD, SAINT MALO, MONT SAINT MICHEL 
AND AVRANCHES 

August 26th, Next morning before going 
to Saint Malo we visited the scanty remains 
of the priory, founded in 1324. The chapel, 
which is in ruins, contains a colossal statue 
of the Virgin and Child of the fifteenth cen- 
tury. The old house, traditionally sup- 
posed to have once been occupied by the 
Black Prince, has a couple of picturesque 
towers with conical roofs and gables. 

The ferry took us across to Saint Malo. 
It was a small craft, and we were much 
worried for fear the automobile would go 
overboard, as the ferry was crowded with 
motors and did not look equal to her bur- 
den. 

After a safe landing, we climbed the nar- 
row, tortuous streets and took the walk 
along the ramparts to see the curious ap- 
pearance of the town, and the view of the 
bay, which is dotted with fortified islets, 
[83] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

one of which contains the simple tomb of 
Chateaubriand. 

Anxious to spend most of our day at Mont 
Saint Michel, we hurried away along the 
coast. 

The Mont Saint Michel is fair to see, way 
out in the water at the end of a long cause- 
way, its spire thrown aloft in the blue sky 
five hundred feet. 

After lunching at the famous restaurant 
of Poulard Aine, where we had one of the 
celebrated omelettes and roasted chicken, 
which we were permitted to see cooking in 
the enormous fire-place, we began to climb ; 
first to the museum, a miniature Madame 
Tussaud's with more or less interesting 
scenes from the history of the Mont, then 
to the Abbey. 

It was founded in 709 by Saint Aubert, 
Bishop of Avranches, in obedience to the 
commands of the Archangel Michel, who 
appeared to him in a vision. Previous to 
that the rock had been a pagan sanctuary, 
known as Mons Tumba. The monks were 
protected by RoUo and the succeeding rul- 
ers of Normandy, and in 1066 they sent six 
ships to assist William in the conquest of 
[84] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

England. Pilgrims resorted to the Mont 
in great numbers and their pious gifts 
greatly enriched the monastery. Learning 
flourished there and in the twelfth century 
the Abbey was known as the "City of 
Books," having such a collection of manu- 
scripts. In 1203 it was burned by Philip 
Augustus but afterwards when he became 
ruler of Normandy he rebuilt it. The Mont 
successfully defied Henry Fifth of England. 
Abuses and disorders prevailing among the 
Benedictine monks, they were replaced by 
the brethren of the order of Saint Maur, 
who remained until the Revolution. It was 
then converted into a prison, but later re- 
stored to its religious uses under the Bishop 
of Avranches. It now belongs to the state, 
at whose expense it is being restored. 

Up the Abbot's Staircase we ascended to 
the church, the Gothic spire of which is 
crowned by the bronze statue of Saint 
Michel. From the terrace known as Saut 
Gautier, named for a prisoner who at- 
tempted to escape in the thirteenth cen- 
tury, the view from the platform extends 
over the coast of Normandy and Brittany. 

The adjoining church is being restored, 
[85] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

consequently looks quite new in colouring, 
but the architecture assures us to the con- 
trary. Above the church the outer gallery 
and the top of the tower are reached by 
means of the " staircase of lace." At present 
one is not allowed on the staircase, but it 
may be seen from an adjacent doorway. 

On leaving the church we went to La Mer- 
veille, a huge building abutting against the 
rock on the north, on a level with the third 
story. Its exquisite proportions together 
with its marvellous beauty and sublime 
grandeur of the exterior have rendered it 
"the finest monument of architecture in the 
whole world." The Cloister is the most 
beautiful portion of the building. There 
are two hundred and twenty columns, one 
hundred engaged in the walls and the others 
arranged in double arcades, with graceful 
vaults, and delicate carvings which fill the 
spandrels of the arches. The employment 
of rose granite greatly enhances the effect, 
and it is almost impossible to imagine any 
creation of stone more delicate than the 
exquisite carvings and beautiful frieze. 

Adjacent is the Refectory, once used as a 
dormitory by the monks, and then divided 
[861 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

into two stories. The pulpit still remains 
where one monk read aloud while the others 
ate. 

Beneath the Cloister is the Salle des 
Chevaliers, an admirable specimen of thir- 
teenth century architecture, with depressed 
vaulting and a triple row of beautifully 
wrought columns. It also contains two 
enormous fire-places with canopies. 

The Crypte des Gros Piliers is beneath the 
choir, and was formerly used as a chapel. Its 
massive yet graceful pillars support the 
choir above. 

The Almonry, where the monks received 
and assisted the poor, is another immense 
room divided into two naves by six massive 
pillars. 

The Promenoir is a double gallery with 
four columns about ninety-seven feet in 
length, at the end of the Promenoir is a 
gallery containing one of the cages con- 
structed by the order of Louis Eleventh and 
in which the unfortunate Dubourg was im- 
prisoned. 

The cells of Mont Saint Michel bear wit- 
ness to the barbarity of former ages and it 
was no surprise to be told that only one 
[87] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

prisoner ever escaped alive. This was a 
man Colombat, an artist, who fled by 
means of a subterranean passage leading 
to the greves. 

The walk along the ramparts was most 
enjoyable after coming from those cold lofty 
apartments, where, in some places the wall 
had been removed and then bricked up 
again, setting us to wondering if some poor 
wretch had been immured there and if his 
skeleton would be found, were the bricks re- 
moved. 

The afternoon was drawing to a close and 
everything was bathed in rose-coloured 
light. The tree trunks seemed to be 
wrapped in cloth of gold. Past stone cot- 
tages, solid and old, with queer little win- 
dows and high brick walls we drove into 
Avranches. The courtyard, with its pretty 
rose garden, at the Grand Hotel de France 
looked very inviting, and the spacious room 
assigned us a restful spot in which to rest 
our weary bodies. 

After dinner we walked to a street over- 
looking the Bay, and had a glorious view of 
the Mont, and the old ruined towers by 
moonlight. 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



XI 

FROM OLD AVRANCHES TO MODERN 
TROUVILLE 

August 2yth. Avranches is one of the 
oldest towns of Normandy, it has a beau- 
tiful situation on a hill on the left bank of 
the See, and commands an exquisite and 
justly famed view of the Bay of Saint Mi- 
chel. 

From the Jardin des Plantes the Mont 
can be clearly seen. It is admirably de- 
scribed by Mrs. Macquoid in her work 
"Through Normandy." 

*'0n the right is the extensive valley of 
the See, a bright river winding and twisting 
in and out among the trees that border it 
closely; the sides of the valley are chiefly 
wooded, but here and there are glimpses of 
cornfield and meadow, and beyond is the 
sea with a distant line of coast; to the left is 
the valley of the Selune, which takes a 
straighter course through a rich extent of 
hilly wooded country, that melts finally 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

into the blue hills of Brittany. But it is the 
centre of the picture that fixes the atten- 
tion — the Bay of Saint Michel; the right 
bank of the See stretches out, making a 
dark line between the glittering, treacherous 
sand and the almost empty mouth of the 
river, with its curves and stretches of wet 
and dry land; and rising from the brilliant 
line of light on the greves is the fortress- 
convent, as weird and phantom-like as ever 
in its distinct mistiness." 

Opposite the Jardin des Plantes is the 
principal church of the town, Notre Dame 
des Champs, a handsome modern structure, 
containing fine stained windows. 

The Hotel de Ville contains the public 
library and has many valuable books 
and manuscripts from Mont Saint Michel, 
amongst which the famous treatise "Sic et 
Non" by Abelard was discovered. 

At one time Avranches possessed a beau- 
tiful Norman-Gothic cathedral but this was 
destroyed in 1790, and only a few shapeless 
ruins in front of the Sous-Prefecture are left 
to recall it. Near by is a broken column 
surrounded by posts and chains, indicating 
the spot where Henry Second of England 
[90] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

did humble penance in 1172 for the murder 
of Thomas a Becket. 

In the Market Square, people were selling 
their provisions, and happily chatting to 
one another. 

On the way to Caen, we passed many 
Calvarys set among the trees on the road- 
side, some of them very primitive, and 
others most modern and too gorgeously 
painted. 

Soon the towers of Saint Etienne ap- 
peared on the horizon and we dipped down 
into the town of Caen. 

Caen first arose to importance under Wil- 
liam the Conqueror, who had built the 
Castle and two Abbeys, whose beautiful 
churches are still the chief ornaments of the 
town. It suffered much in the religious 
wars of France and was well-nigh ruined 
by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes 
in 1685. From this town Charlotte Corday 
who was born in the neighbourhood, set out 
to assassinate Marat. Auber, the composer, 
and Malherbe, the poet, were natives of 
Caen, and Beau Brummel lies buried in the 
Protestant cemetery. 

After visiting Saint Sauveur, which con- 

[91] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

sists of two old churches placed side by side 
forming an immense nave, with fine old 
stained glass, a handsome belfry and an 
apse, richly decorated, of the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries, we went to Saint Eti- 
enne, or the Abbaye-aux-hommes, founded 
by William the Conqueror at the same time 
that La Trinite was begun by his wife, Ma- 
tilda, as an expiation of the sin they had 
committed by the irregularity of their mar- 
riage — they were cousins-german. 

The exterior view of Saint Etienne is very 
unsatisfactory, it is so hemmed in by the 
buildings about it. In front of the high 
altar a black marble slab marks the burial 
place of William the Conqueror, but it is 
doubtful if any part of him lies buried there. 
One authority says his thigh bone is all that 
has been left after the various destructions 
of the tomb, but another avers that there 
remains absolutely nothing of the Con- 
queror there. 

The church is distinguished by its dig- 
nified simplicity, the sacristy is an interest- 
ing specimen of architecture, and in it is an 
ancient portrait of the founder of the church. 
A beautiful carved clock case, the choir 
[92] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

stalls, pulpit and organ case supported by 
colossal figures are all worthy of much study. 

All along the streets of Caen are quaint 
houses, their fronts filled with wood carv- 
ing. In the Rue Saint Jean, number 148, is 
the house of Charlotte Corday and at num- 
ber 20 is the Hotel de Than of the sixteenth 
century. 

The chief church of Caen and architectur- 
ally the most perfect is that of Saint Pierre; 
it is a most interesting example of Gothic 
architecture. The chapels were added dur- 
ing the Renaissance period, and are elabo- 
rately decorated. The general impression of 
the interior is one of great harmony. The 
quaint capitals of the massive pillars in the 
nave are carved with a curious miscellany 
of sacred, profane and grotesque figures, 
rabbits, a unicorn, and a pelican, with sub- 
jects from old romances — Launcelot du Lac 
crossing the lake sword in hand, Aristotle 
on all fours ridden like a horse, and Hippoc- 
rates in mid-air in a basket. 

The end of the nave centres on a single 
pillar, the usual termination being one on 
on each side. The graceful apse, with its 
five chapels, is the masterpiece of Hector 

[93] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Sohier, a native of Caen. The carvings on 
the pulpit and organ case, the vestry doors 
and the beautiful high altar merit much at- 
tention. 

On the south side of the church is a porch 
at which criminals, condemned to death, 
stooped to make the ''amends honorable,''^ 
taper in hand and on their knees. The ex- 
terior, with its spire and tower and flying 
buttresses, is most beautiful. 

Opposite the tower of Saint Pierre is the 
Exchange, formerly the Hotel Valois, an- 
other picturesque sixteenth century build- 
ing. It is chiefly remarkable for its hand- 
some winding staircase, and cupola, and the 
beautifully carved statues, David with the 
head of Goliath, and Judith with that of 
Holof ernes; also a fine dormer window in 
the middle of the building. 

The church of La Trinite is in the form of 
a cross and is smaller than Saint Etienne. 
With the exception of one chapel, it is 
Norman-Romanesque. Two square towers 
rise on the west fagade and another from the 
transept. All these were deprived of their 
spires, but in the eighteenth century were 
provided with balustrades. 
[94] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The interior has small galleries surmount- 
ing the aisles. Formerly when the nuns in- 
habited the Abbaye, one was allowed to 
view the tomb of the foundress only through 
a grating of the Lady Chapel, but since the 
state drove out the nuns, those women who 
had devoted their lives to the service of the 
church and the duties of the adjoining hos- 
pital, one can buy tickets, go into the choir 
and stand beside the burial place of the 
Queen of the Conqueror. Cecily, the old- 
est daughter of William and Matilda was 
Abbess once, and the bones of the Queen 
were collected and placed in the vault by 
the Abbess de Montmorency. Four tombs 
have been erected over the grave of Matilda 
who died in 1083. Below the choir is the 
interesting crypt. Behind the hospital is 
an extensive park which commands attract- 
ive views, and where we would have much 
preferred seeing the nuns walking instead 
of the gaily uniformed gendarmes. 

About half a mile, along the Rue Basse, 
we went to see the Manoir des Gendarmes; 
a picturesque ruined edifice of the fifteenth 
century, built by Gerard de Nollent. It is 
crowned with battlements and on the roof 

[95] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

are two figures of armed men carved in stone, 
whence the name, and the outside walls are 
sculptured with coats of arms and medallions. 

The Castle of Caen, begun by William the 
Conqueror and finished by Henry First, is 
is now used as a barracks. It has been al- 
tered so many times that it presents few 
points of interest. 

On the way from sleepy, old-world Caen 
to intensely modern Trouville is the curious 
old Inn of William the Conqueror, at Dives. 
Dives-sur-Mer is where the conqueror set 
sail for England in 1066. A column on 
a neighbouring height commemorates the 
event, and the names of his companions are 
inscribed inside the porch of the church 
founded by Robert the Devil. It was almost 
destroyed by Edward Third. The Inn con- 
tains a museum of curiosities and the old 
Market Hall nearby, built of timber, has 
a most beautiful roof. 

At Houlgate the fashionables were play- 
ing tennis, driving and motoring, and the vil- 
las with their shady gardens were most in- 
viting looking. 

Deauville, with its broad straight streets, 
is the Newport of France. There are beau- 
[96] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

tiful houses and villas, and it offers in its 
comparative tranquillity a contrast to its 
more animated sister Trouville. It has a 
race-course, a golf club and polo grounds, a 
fine beach and handsome casino. The "ter- 
race," which is a mile in length, is lined with 
artistic villas, belonging to wealthy Pari- 
sians and Americans. 

At Trouville we rested for the night at the 
Hotel Bellevue, a pretty white building, its 
windows filled with boxes containing pink 
geraniums. 

Trouville is the fashionable watering-place 
of northern France. The painter Isabey, 
and the writings of Dumas, first drew the 
Parisians to the charming little fishing vil- 
lage, making it the rendezvous of the 
wealthy and brilliant society folk. 

On the beach front are long drawn out 
rows of huge hotels, fine shops and a mag- 
nificent casino. At the latter place we spent 
the evening, where first there was a concert 
and then a ball. At the tables we tried the 
system we had been taught at Dinard, with 
disastrous result. The few francs we had 
won at the latter place and several extra 
ones were raked in by the silent croupier. 
[97] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



XII 

PONT AUDEMER AND ROUEN 

August 28th, Before leaving Trouville 
we walked out on one of the quays to look 
back at the town. Viewed from there it is 
altogether charming; wooded cliffs dotted 
with picturesque villas afford a pleasant 
background to the ever varying kaleido- 
scope of the promenade and beach. 

There are two churches, Notre Dame de 
Bon-Secours near the casino, and Notre 
Dame des Victoires in the Rue Tostain fac- 
ing the harbour. The latter has a marble 
altar from the ruins of Pompeii, and the 
former some good modern glass and a fine 
pulpit. 

Along a pastoral land we sped to Pont 
Audemer, a small industrial village pictur- 
esquely situated on the river Rille. There 
we visited the church of Saint Ouen, one 
of the most beautiful in Normandy. The 
greater portion of the building belongs to 
the sixth century, the choir dating from the 
[98] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

eleventh. The chapel of the baptistry has 
a charming balcony and the exquisite win- 
dows are of the Renaissance period, those 
in the chapel of Saint Catherine being the 
most beautiful. 

The church of Saint Germain has a beau- 
tiful window of the fifteenth century. The 
building was begun in the eleventh, and the 
tower with its fine double windows dates 
from the thirteenth century. An ox's head 
carved on the north wall is said to com- 
memorate an incident connected with the 
building of the church. 

The ruins of the church of Saint Sepulcre 
are in a narrow side street; its walls are 
hung with ivy, and flowering vines are 
draped on the broken arches. 

Every spot of land about this district is cul- 
tivated. As we approached Rouen the land- 
scape became more truly Norman. Deep 
thatches overhang the ochre walls of the 
cottages which are covered in rose vines or 
espaliered with pear trees. 

The magnificent ruined Abbey of Saint 

Georges-de-Boscherville, dating from the 

eleventh to the thirteenth centuries sits 

aloft on the hillside, passing which we 

[99] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

descended on the mediaeval town of 
Rouen. 

A brief visit to the Musee des Beaux Arts 
to see Gerhard David's "Virgin of the 
Grapes," the gem of the collection; then to 
the Cathedral, which, as we see to-day, was 
begun very early in the thirteenth century, 
after the older building had been almost 
entirely destroyed by fire in the year 
1 200. 

It is one of the grandest Gothic edifices 
in Normand}^, but most unsymmetrical in 
plan. The fagade, whose towers are of un- 
equal height, is of the sixteenth century and 
most profusely decorated. The Tour de 
Beurre, which is the loftier, derives its name 
from having been erected with money paid 
for indulgences to eat butter during Lent. 
The appearance of the Cathedral as a whole 
suffers from the admixture of styles; but the 
intrinsic beauty of its parts such as the west 
front, the towers, transept doors, decorated 
windows, and the clustered arches in the 
nave is remarkable. 

The tombs in the Lady Chapel all belong 
to the sixteenth century; the mausoleum of 
the Cardinals d'Amboise being the finest. 
[ 100] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Behind the figures of the kneeUng Cardi- 
nals is a bas-relief of Saint George and the 
dragon, and statues of Christ, the Virgin, 
and six saints. In the little niches at the 
base of the tomb are exquisite figures of 
little hooded mourners, bowed in grief. 
Opposite is the tomb of Louis de Breze, 
Seneschal of Normandy, erected by his 
wife, the well-known Diane de Poitiers. It 
is a Renaissance construction attributed to 
Jean Cousin and Jean Goujon. 

On the south side of the nave is the tomb 
of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy, and on 
the opposite side in the corresponding 
chapel lies his son, William of the Long 
Sword. 

Beneath the huge lime-stone figure of 
Richard Coeur de Lion is interred his heart, 
and buried on the opposite side of the choir, 
is his brother Richard Curtmantle, over 
whose resting place is a modern recumbent 
figure. 

"Above the pillars and arches of the nave 
runs another line of both in place of a tri- 
forium; above this again are two galleries 
one above the other; and higher yet are five 
horizontal divisions in the walls of the nave, 

[lOl] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

which has no parallel in England." (Wink- 
ler's "French Cathedrals"). 

The beautiful stained glass is mostly of 
the thirteenth century. The altar-piece, 
an Adoration of the Shepherds, is by Philip 
de Champaigne. 

The Archbishop's Palace is an extensive 
pile immediately behind the Cathedral. 

Going out by the Portail des Libraires, 
so called from the bookstalls that once oc- 
cupied the court, we crossed the Rue de la 
Republique to the church of Saint Maclou, 
a rich example of the florid Gothic style of 
the fifteenth century, and one of the most 
perfect specimens of the Flamboyant style 
in Normandy. The celebrated carved doors 
and the exquisite organ staircase are its 
greatest treasures. It is a small church, 
about half the size of Saint Ouen, but its 
proportions are extremely beautiful and the 
west front a marvel in plan, construction 
and ornamentation. 

Next to the Cathedral in importance, 
and exceeding it in interest from an artistic 
standpoint is the Abbey church of Saint 
Ouen. The tower is an exquisite fairy-like 
gem of architecture. The interior, of an 

[ 102] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

immense size, about four hundred feet long, 
eighty feet wide, and one hundred feet high, 
is an almost perfect specimen of the Deco- 
rated and Flamboyant styles. The triforium 
is of glass ; the clerestory is immensely large 
and lofty and the number of windows 
throughout containing beautiful coloured 
glass add much to the sublime effect of the 
whole. On entering the Portail des Mar- 
mousets, so-called from the heads with 
which it is adorned, one seems to see nothing 
but this magnificent glass. The tower over 
the transept is surmounted by an octagonal 
open-work lantern terminating in a gallery, 
called the "Crown of Normandy." 

In the donjon of the Tour Jeanne d'Arc 
the Maid was imprisoned in 143 1. The 
tower as it is at present was restored about 
thirty years ago, but the work was done so 
carefully that much of the original masonry 
was preserved and its appearance must be 
much the same as it was seven hundred 
years ago. Beneath the turret a wooden 
boarding projects. This formed a platform 
from which the defenders of the Tower 
hurled stones and other missiles down on to 
the heads of besiegers. Jeanne was burnt 

[ 103 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

in the Market Place at the foot of the Rue 
de la Grosse Horologe, and there a tablet 
marks her memory. It was hung with 
palms and faded flowers. 

The Place de la Pucelle, where Jeanne 
d'Arc stands (a paltry figure over a foun- 
tain) is opposite the Hotel du Bourgthe- 
roulde. This building is now a bank, but the 
court is open to the public. It was in this 
courtyard that the famous meeting of the 
Kings of England and France on the " Field 
of the Cloth of Gold" in 1520, is commemo- 
rated in a series of carved stone panels be- 
neath the roof of the wing on the left-hand 
side of the entrance. There are five in all. 
Henry is shown on the left and Francis on 
the right, the centre panel representing the 
actual meeting of the monarchs attended 
by their respective retainers. Cardinal 
Wolsey riding on a mule is on the second 
one. They are protected from the weather 
by a hood, for they are badly worn, and 
were it not for the printed explanation af- 
fixed to the wall the second and third panels 
would be almost unintelligible. The plaster 
casts of these panels in the Musee Depart- 
ment d 'Antiquites should certainly be seen. 
[ 104] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Above the windows, carved in the stone 
are a series of pictures illustrating a very 
different subject. They represent in alle- 
gory ideas suggested by Petrarch's Tri- 
umphs. They, too, are much worn. 

The house is a beautiful one of the style 
between the Gothic and Renaissance. On 
the inside of the entrance gates the carved 
medallions of Henry Eighth and Francis 
First are wonderfully^ preserved. 

The Palace of Justice, a magnificent 
building of the latest Flamboyant Gothic 
resembles the handsome town halls in Bel- 
gium. In the left wing is the Salle des Pro- 
cureurs, a spacious hall with a timber roof. 
The central part of the Palace erected for 
the supreme tribunal of Normandy, is where 
the assizes are held. This hall is lavishly 
decorated, the fine cassetted ceiling is in 
carved wood. The fagade of the building is 
also richly ornamented. 

In the Rue de la Grosse Horologe is the 
old clock and belfry and a gateway dating 
from 1529. Its vault and sides are beautiful- 
ly carved and beside it is the fountain repre- 
senting the myth of Arethusa, the nymph, 
and Alpheus. 

[105] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The house of Diane de Poitiers used to 
be in the little open space near by in which 
is the Tour Saint Andre. Corneille was 
born at Rouen and his dwelling-place is now 
public property, situated at Petit Couronne. 

The church of Saint Gervais contains the 
oldest crypt in France, also the tombs of the 
earlier Bishops of Rouen, Saint Mellon and 
Saint Avetien. In the wood work of the 
choir is a cunningly devised door; this the 
sacristan unlocks and through it admits you 
to the crypt; he also provides you with a 
lighted candle and by its rays you descend 
a long winding staircase. The crypt is ded- 
icated to Saint Gervais and it was in the Ab- 
bey of that name, possibly above this very 
place, that William the Conqueror breathed 
his last. The walls show distinct signs of 
Roman building, which is the only trace in 
Rouen of the Roman occupation, except 
some tombs, coins and mosaics found in the 
Department and preserved in the Museum 
of Antiquities. 

The old houses in Rouen were the quaint- 
est we had seen and it seems a pity others 
have been destroyed to make way for the 
unpicturesque boulevards and tram lines. 
[io6] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



XIII 

ROUEN TO PARIS VIA DREUX AND CHARTRES 

August 2Qth, The windings of the Seine 
led us to Les Andelys through well-kept 
villages, along highways with chalky hill- 
sides, and by-ways choked with wild flow- 
ers. On the steep, breezy heights above Le 
Petit Andeleys rise the ruins of the Chateau 
Gaillard. This "Saucy Castle" was built 
by Richard Coeur de Lion, and few ruins 
leave a more vivid impression on the mind 
than this fortress chateau, fitting into the 
landscape in a manner as does no other me- 
diaeval donjon of France except that of Chi- 
non. Its defences extend to the edge of the 
precipice descending abruptly to the Seine. 
It is a rag of a ruin but the thickness of its 
walls show what an impregnable strong- 
hold it must have been. Philip Augus- 
tus succeeded in capturing the fort only 
after a siege of five months. Margaret of 
Burgundy, the youthful wife of Louis 
Tenth, was held here probably in one of the 
[ 107] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

caverns in the side of the second Fosse and 
strangled with her own hair by order of her 
suspicious husband. The donjon is still in 
a fair state of preservation. 

Looking down from the Castle the view 
of the Seine, dotted with its wooded islets, 
is superb. The little town tucked in at the 
foot of these fallen ramparts is grouped 
about the grey old church of Saint Sauveur, 
a structure dating possibly from the end of 
the twelfth century. It is in the form of a 
Greek cross without galleries in the nave or 
transepts, interiorly rather bare but beau- 
tifully proportioned and with so close an ar- 
rangement of pillars as to enable the eye to 
take in the beauty of the whole building at 
a single glance, the choir with its triforium 
of twin arcades, the lancet w^indows of the 
beautiful Lady Chapel and the fifteenth 
century wall paintings. At Grand Andeleys 
the beauties of Notre Dame are numerous; 
the glass windows in the south aisle are par- 
ticularly noticeable, also those in the south 
clerestory of the nave, and the three large 
rose windows. The Renaissance organ 
case, with its fourteen panels representing 
the Christian arts, virtues and sciences and 
[108I 




The spot where Jeanne d'Arc was burned 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

mythological characters is a curiosity in it- 
self, The stalls of the choir are quaintly 
carved, the great altar is of bronze, and in 
the southwest chapel there is a beautiful 
marble group of the Entombment. 

Along a romantic road, part of its way 
rock-walled, the stones covered with pink 
and yellow lichens, a slumbrous calm per- 
vading everything, we bowled quickly to 
Dreux, passing through Louviers, with its 
air of rural elegance, its pleasant streams, 
shady walks and trim gardens, the quaint 
old houses in the centre and the beautiful 
church of Notre Dame, imparting a mediae- 
val appearance. 

Evreux, a clean pleasant little town, is 
situated on the Iton. The small admirably 
proportioned Cathedral is its main attrac- 
tion, though the perfect Renaissance is out 
of harmony with the Norman architec- 
ture to the west of the nave, and the fif- 
teenth century wooden spire. The latter 
was erected by Cardinal La Balue, the fa- 
mous primate of Louis Eleventh, as was also 
the beautiful Lady Chapel which contains 
excellent glass. The carved wood screens of 
the chapels in the nave and those of the 
[ 109] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

choir are of the sixteenth century. Adjoin- 
ing the Cathedral is the Bishop's palace 
with its exquisite cloisters. 

On we rushed to Dreux where we lunched 
and then went to the Chapelle Royalle, a 
highly interesting erection in spite of the 
medley of architectural styles. The build- 
ing was begun by the Dowager Duchess 
d 'Orleans, mother of Louis Philippe but 
was enlarged and completed by the King as 
a burial place for their family. Here the 
remains of the exiled Louis Philippe and his 
Queen were transferred from Weybridge, 
England, The magnificent stained glass 
windows and fine sculptures complete a 
most gorgeous interior. The funeral monu- 
ments are in the apse to which steps de- 
scend behind the high altar. At the foot of 
the steps is the monument of Louis Phi- 
lippe and beside him in a kneeling position 
is his consort, Marie Amelie. Others buried 
there are Princess Marie, Duchess of Wur- 
temberg (over whom is the statue of the 
Angel of Resignation, sculptured by her- 
self) ; the Duke of Orleans and his Duchess 
(Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin) ; Mad- 
ame Adelaide, sister of Louis Philippe; the 
[no] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Dowager Duchess of Orleans; the Princess of 
Salerno, mother-in-law of the Due d'Au- 
male; the two youthful children of the Comte 
de Paris; two princes de Montpensier, and 
the Duke and Duchess d'Aumale. The 
windows of the crypt contain the most 
magnificent modern glass and the sunlight 
shining through in such an illuminating way 
imparted a heavenly glow to the scenes from 
the Passion. The remembrance of their 
matchless beauty will always remain with us, 
these feelings in colour. There are other 
windows representing scenes from the life of 
Saint Louis. All were made at the facto- 
ries at Sevres and are beyond descrip- 
tion. 

Descending the steep hill of the town we 
came upon the church of Saint Pierre, a 
Gothic edifice of the thirteenth and fifteenth 
centuries with its weather-beaten exterior. 
However the Lady Chapel and the chapels 
of the aisles have good stained glass that 
has been restored, and the organ case is 
quite beautiful. 

The Hotel de Ville resembles a huge 
square donjon, having its fagade flanked by 
the projecting turrets at the angles, and 
[III] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

embellished with elaborate carving around 
the dome and windows. 

The way to Chartres lay along a straight 
grey road like the ones we had travelled in 
Touraine and several miles away we could 
detect the beautiful spires of the Cathedral 
outlined against the blue, blue sky. 

This Cathedral of Notre Dame is built 
(tradition avers) above a grotto where the 
Druids celebrated the worship of a "maiden 
who should bear a child." The interior af- 
fects one physically — such beauty is there — 
the superb stained windows, mostly of the 
thirteenth century, are above one a hundred 
feet, perhaps the finest glass being in the 
three rose windows of the west front. You 
look at these windows, and leave them and 
return to look again and again. The choir 
and apse are surrounded by a double ambu- 
latory and the latter is adjoined by seven 
chapels. The wall enclosing the choir is 
adorned with sculptures that are like point 
lace in stone, some of them are mutilated 
but not enough to detract in any way from 
the beauty of the whole. The "Vierge du 
Pilier" is in the north aisle, and before her 
at all hours are worshippers and the stand 

[112] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

is ablaze with candles, lighted and placed 
there by petitioners. In the treasury we 
were shown a piece of the veil of the Virgin, 
said to have been presented to Charlemagne 
by the Empress Irene. 

A funeral taking place in the nave did not 
deter visitors from walking about the chap- 
els, but we awaited the departure of the 
small band of mourners before seating our- 
selves to fully appreciate the marvellous 
beauty of the building. On the floor of the 
nave is a curious maze of coloured lines, sup- 
posed to have served for a penitential path 
for worshippers, the stations on it corre- 
sponding to the beads of the rosary. 

By winding streets we descended to the 
church of Saint Pierre in which are the 
twelve splendid Limoges enamels by Leon- 
ard Limousin, each two feet in length, rep- 
resenting the twelve Apostles. They were 
given to Diane de Poitiers by Henry Second 
and brought from her chateau at Anet, in the 
chapel of which Diane was buried. Only a 
few remains of the chateau are preserved 
and Diane's monument has been destroyed. 

A great many old houses are at Chartres, 
the quaintest being the one having the stair- 

[113] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

case of Queen Bertha on its front is in the 
Place de la Poissonerie. Through the nar- 
row streets when crossing little bridges we 
caught glimpses of the Cathedral on the hill 
above us until we took the road to Ram- 
bouillet. We passed through the small 
town of Maintenon, situated on the Eure 
which possesses the handsome chateau from 
which Frangoise d'Aubigne (widow of the 
lame poet Scarron) took the title of Mar- 
quise de Maintenon on her marriage to Louis 
Fourteenth. Here too are the ruins of that 
huge aqueduct begun by Louis Fourteenth 
to conduct the water of the Eure to Ver- 
sailles but discontinued owing to the great 
mortality among the workmen. 

An obelisk has been erected to its defend- 
ers at Epernon, a small and ancient town. 

Stopping at Rambouillet for dinner we 
saw the chateau where Frangois First died. 
Afterwards it belonged to Charles d'An- 
gennes, husband of the celebrated Marquise 
de Rambouillet and was acquired later for 
the crown of Louis Sixteenth; there also 
Charles Tenth signed his abdication. The 
Park covers three thousand acres and con- 
tains numerous avenues of tall trees. 
[114] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

After dinner we walked about the streets 
and fancied we had been placed in the sec- 
ond act of "Le Boheme," for a fete was tak- 
ing place and the square and streets were 
crowded with the populace making merry. 
A band gave most discordant but none the 
less entertaining music, the gendarmes 
mixed with the crowd lending additional 
colour to the picture, and small boys carried 
torches and gave screams of delight at the 
women throwing confetti in the faces of 
their admirers. 

Reluctantly we turned towards Paris. 
Past the Forest of Rambouillet which 
looked ghost-like in the light mist through 
which the moonshine shimmered. At Ver- 
sailles we found ourselves in the midst of 
another fete. In the distance we had seen 
the fireworks but they were finished before 
our arrival, and the crowd was dispersing in 
all directions. 

All too soon we reached the Bois, the Arc 
de Triomphe gleamed white in the moonlight 
and the fountains in the Place de la Con- 
corde seemed dripping with silver. Past the 
Tuileries gardens we slowly made our way 
to the gilded statue of Jeanne d'Arc. 
[115] 



PART TWO 



England 



FROM LONDON TO BEDFORD VIA HAMPSTEAD 
HEATH AND ELSTOW 

September /fth. None the worse for the 
choppy sea our boat encountered crossing 
the Channel, we were quite ready to resume 
our journey by motor and started at three in 
the afternoon, past Trafalgar Square with its 
wonderful column and lions, up Piccadilly 
with its steady stream of traffic, the like of 
which one sees in no other city in the world, 
to Hyde Park Corner, past the overdeco- 
rated Albert Memorial out to Hampstead 
Heath, which is one of the most open and 
picturesque spots in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of London, its wild and irregular 
beauty of hill and hollow making it a re- 
freshing contrast to the trim elegance of the 
parks. It was once a notorious haunt of 
highwaymen and nearby are many old Inns 
frequented by the desperadoes. It was at 

[119] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

"The Spaniards " that Dick Turpin engaged 
rooms for the night. On being surprised by 
King George's men he made his escape 
through the window overlooking the stable 
yard, leaping on the back of his mare " Black 
Bess," and set out for his famous ride to 
York. It is here that one may see hanging 
over the bar in a frame three curious knives 
and forks with curved steel handles used by 
Turpin and two of his friends when at sup- 
per at the Inn. The other famous hos- 
telries are those of "Jack Straw's Castle" 
and the "Bull and Bush" in the garden of 
which is a holly tree planted by Hogarth. 

The wonderfully built English roads of a 
golden colour are narrow and winding with 
high leafy hedges each side, having once in a 
while a break in them of a long driveway up 
to an old mansion of which one can only ob- 
tain a view of its chimney tops, the spread- 
ing trees hiding all else. 

The English scenery is surprising by its 
endless variety. It seems to be a country of 
woods, hedges and soft airs, with no weari- 
some sameness. We drove on through a 
low-lying level drowsy land of deep green 
meadows freshened by little lazy streams 
[ 120] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

to the orchard embowered village of Old 
Warden. This village which is full of 
quaint houses with carved barge boards, red- 
painted doors and windows, was long the 
residence of the Lords Ongley who lived in 
Warden House. At the end of the short 
walk across the fields are the ruins of War- 
den Abbey, the arms of which are three 
pears. These were the famous Warden bak- 
ing ones grown in the Abbey orchard and 
still known the world over as Warden pears. 
Past acres of hops waving their tender green 
vines laden with blossoms ready for gath- 
ering, we sped on to Elstow, famous as the 
birthplace of John Bunyan who lived there 
for many years and whose wild youth, mar- 
riage, struggles with conscience and his call 
to take up the vocation of preaching have 
all been told by himself. In the main street 
is a long row of old cottages with overhang- 
ing upper rooms, dating from long before 
Bunyan's time, and on the left-hand side as 
you enter the village is pointed out the one 
occupied by Bunyan after his marriage. It 
is low built with two small gables and stands 
alone. In this old village was once an Abbey 
for Benedictine nuns, established during the 

[121] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

life of the Conqueror, of which some ivy- 
hung ruins still remain. 

The restored church has on its floor sev- 
eral interesting brasses, one of which repre- 
sents the last Abbess of the Convent and 
displays one of the best examples existing 
of the costumes of a Benedictine Abbess, 
with cowl, gown, cap and veil, wimple and 
pastoral staff. The five bells in the belfry 
claim attention from the fact that one of 
Bunyan's favorite amusements as a young 
man included bell ringing in Elstow church 
and the sexton does not hesitate to point 
out the very bell that used to be rung by 
Bunyan showing the groove worn by the 
rope, in the stone archway under which he 
stood, in dread lest the bell should fall upon 
him. Two memorial windows have been 
erected to him with scenes from the "Pil- 
grim's Progress" and the "Holy War." On 
the unpretending village green a big fair 
used to be held once a year which is sup- 
posed to have served as the original of Bun- 
yan's idea of Vanity Fair in "Pilgrim's 
Progress." On this same green he was play- 
ing a game of cat on a Sunday, and just as 
he was about to strike the cat heard voices 

[ 122] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

from Heaven which caused him to cease 
playing and eventually brought about his 
conversion and started his preaching career. 
We reached the Swan Hotel at Bedford 
in a drenching rainstorm. Having wired in 
advance our rooms were ready for us, and 
in each a cheerful fire blazed in a most wel- 
come way. We were hungry with that keen 
hunger developed from automobiling and 
did justice to the good old fashioned English 
fare in this good old fashioned English Inn. 



[ 123 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



II 



NEWARK AND MANSFIELD 

September ^th. Bedford is a charmingly 
antique town situated on the toy river Ouse 
which brightens the landscape by its silvery 
gleaming as it takes its winding way to the 
sea. Its history goes back to very ancient 
times, the charter of incorporation granted 
by Henry Second is still preserved as are also 
those granted to the town by about a dozen 
other English sovereigns. 

The two great names of Bedford, how- 
ever, are John Bunyan and John Howard. 
At the corner of St. Peter's Green is a fine 
statue of the former cast from the material 
of cannon taken in the Chinese War. The 
base of Aberdeen granite is decorated with 
bronze panels representing scenes from "Pil- 
grim's Progress." This was presented to the 
town by the Duke of Bedford. The statue 
to John Howard was erected by public sub- 
scription in 1894 on the occasion of the cen- 
tenary of his death. 

[124] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The old bridge over the Ouse, upon which 
was the prison where Bunyan was incarcer- 
ated, was partially swept away in a great 
storm in 1672 and the present one was 
erected in 181 1, but the spot occupied by 
the old dungeon on the bridge is still pointed 
out. 

The Bunyan Meeting House in Mill Street 
is built on the old site of Ruffhead's Barn. 
At first the congregation worshipped in the 
barn, which was finally bought by subscrip- 
tion, the Old Meeting House built, and 
Bunyan installed as preacher, a post he held 
until his death in 1688. The present build- 
ing was erected in 1848. The bronze gates, 
presented by the Duke of Bedford, contain- 
ing panels illustrating scenes from Bun- 
yan's works, are a prominent feature of the 
chapel. In the vestry is the gate of Bun- 
yan's prison, his chair, his jug, his will in 
his own handwriting and a copy of the war- 
rant for his arrest. 

The site of the old Castle of Bedford is 
marked by an artificial circular mound. 

In the red September air we hummed 
through Saint Neots, Huntingdon, the na- 
tive place of Oliver Cromwell, whose birth 
[125] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

is recorded in the register of Saint John's 
church, and the Grammar School still stands 
in which the Protector was educated. We 
passed antique farm-houses and moss grown 
cottages, along continuously winding roads 
where the eye was delighted by a succession 
of small landscapes captivatingly beautiful; 
through Stilton, famous for its cheeses, to 
Peterborough. 

We were fortunate enough to hear part 
of the service at the Cathedral, after which 
a verger conducted us about. The restora- 
tion of this magnificent building is complete, 
giving it the appearance, at a first glance, of 
a new structure until we see that the archi- 
tecture is Norman. Unfortunately all of the 
old glass was destroyed by the Puritans, but 
it retains the painted wooden roof and ceil- 
ings of the transepts added by Abbot Ben- 
edict in the twelfth century. Peterborough 
Cathedral was once a Benedictine Abbey, 
founded in 655, destroyed by the Danes in 
870, and restored in 966. At the dissolution 
of the monasteries it was spared because 
Catherine of Aragon was buried within its 
walls. It having been suggested to Henry 
Eighth to erect a fair monument for her, 
[126] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

he is said to have repHed, "Yes, I will leave 
her one of the goodliest in the kingdom," 
and surely no queen could have had a more 
magnificent one than "Peterborough the 
Proud." A handsome white marble stone 
with incised inscription and coat of arms, 
has recently been laid down to her mem- 
ory, the original tablet above the Queen's 
grave having been destroyed by Crom- 
well's troops. Near the south door of the 
choir a black marble tablet shows the 
former resting place of Mary Queen of 
Scots, whose remains were taken to West- 
minster Abbey in 1612 by order of her son, 
James the First. 

The interlacing arches, illustrating the 
subtleties of every transitional period in 
architecture from Norman to Perpendicu- 
lar, are the most attractive feature of the 
edifice. 

Beneath the floor of the north transept, 
protected by wooden doors, are several 
richly ornamented slabs or coffin lids un- 
doubtedly Saxon; and form a series which 
may be considered one of the best in Eng- 
land. They are in their original positions, 
the spots on which they lie being outside 
[127] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the Saxon church where was the original 
graveyard. 

The choir and altar have most exquisite 
mosaic pavements. The so-called New 
Building which forms the eastern end of the 
church, is remarkable for the beautiful fan 
tracery of the roof and its choir stalls and 
pulpit are of wood, magnificently carved. 

The cloisters on the south side of the 
nave are known as the "Laurel Court." 
Hawthorne says of this spot, "Of all the 
lovely closes that I ever beheld, that of 
Peterborough Cathedral is to me the most 
beautiful; so quiet it is, so solemnly and 
nobly cheerful, so verdant, so sweetly shad- 
owed and so presided over by the stately 
minster, and surrounded by ancient and 
comely habitations of Christian men." 

The west front, with its triple recessed 
arches eighty-two feet high, is of the finest 
Early English and unlike anything else in 
England. Over the middle door is a chapel 
dedicated to Thomas a Becket, and to the 
left of this entrance is a portrait of Old Scar- 
lett, the memorial which is usually looked 
at first. He is represented with spade, pick- 
axe and keys and a whip in his leathern 
[128I 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

girdle; at his feet a skull. At the top of the 
picture are the arms of the Cathedral and 
beneath the portrait these lines: — 

**You see old Scarlett's picture stand on hie 
But at your feete there doth his body lie 
His gravestone doth his age and death time show 
His office by thels tokens you may know 
Second to none for strength and sturdye llmm 
A scarbabe mighty voice with visage grim 
Hee had inter'd two queens within this place 
And this townes householders In his lives space 
Twice over: But at length his one turne came 
What he for others did for him the same 
Was done: No doubt his soul doth live for aye 
in Heaven: Though here his body clad in clay.*' 

He is said to have buried both Catherine of 
Aragon and Mary Queen of Scots. The old 
gateways to the right and left of the Cathe- 
dral are covered with ivy as are the Clois- 
ters, the left gate leading to the old Prior's 
house, now the Deanery; the right one to 
the Bishop's Palace. 

The Guild Hall, in the Market Place, is 
an effective building with the lower part 
open and is used as a butter market. 

At Peterborough we left the pleasant 
river Nene, whence it finds its way to the 
North Sea through the Flat Fens, and con- 
[129] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

tinued our flight through bonnie England 
with its miles of neatly trimmed hedges and 
past picturesque farm-houses and their out- 
buildings with thatched roofs, sheep by the 
hundreds and chickens by the thousands, 
and on the hillsides the numberless cows 
browsing. 

On our way to Mansfield we passed 
through Grantham where, in 1642, Sir Isaac 
Newton was born at Woolsthorpe Manor 
(now a farm-house). The Angel's Inn is a 
quaint old building, formerly belonging to 
the Knights Templars, and dating from the 
thirteenth century, when King John is said 
to have held court and there too Richard 
Third signed the death warrant of the Duke 
of Buckingham. 

At Newark are the remaining ruins of a 
castle built by Alexander, Bishop of Lin- 
coln, called "The Magnificent." After it 
was surrendered to the Crown it was often 
the residence of John prior to and following 
his becoming King. He died there in 121 2. 
Charles First was ably defended there and 
in spite of famine, disease and slaughter 
the Castle remained impregnable, only sur- 
rendering at last by order of the King, 
[ 130] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

who yielded himself to the Scots at South- 
well. Since then it has remained in ruins. 
The best view of it is from the promenade 
along the river Trent. There are massive 
towers at each end and one in the centre and 
its stout walls give evidence of the strength 
of the old fortress. The eastern tower con- 
tains a spiral staircase leading to the room 
above the gateway and to the chapel. Near 
the western side are the remains of the 
Great Hall, once a magnificent apartment 
one hundred and thirty feet long by twenty- 
two feet wide. Its chief feature is a fine oriel 
window on the west front. In the thickness 
of the north wall is the entrance to the dun- 
geons, one of which is particularly terrible, 
a chamber of beehive shape, ten and a half 
feet in diameter and seventeen feet deep, 
sunk low in the rock. The enclosure in 
which the castle stands is now a public 
pleasure ground laid out with paths, green- 
sward and flower beds, while over the walls 
of the ruins climb flowering vines. 

The Saracen's Head, an Inn which ex- 
isted in the days of Edward Third, is famil- 
iar to readers of the *' Heart of Midlothian," 
as the house where Jennie Deans received 
[131] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

"a mouthful o' meat" on her way to Lon- 
don. 

A short distance south of the Market 
Place is the Beaumond Cross, which used to 
bear a plate with the inscription stating it 
was erected in the reign of Edward Fourth; 
but why, and the authenticity of same, are 
questions on which antiquarians differ. 

The town of Blidworth is surrounded with 
relics of Robin Hood; every hill and dale, 
cliff and cavern, and almost every tree of 
any age is supposed to have been connected 
with the outlaw chief. Will Scarlett is said 
to lie buried in the churchyard, and a cave 
in the cliff upon which the village stands 
is supposed to have been used as the store 
house of the outlaws. 

The sunset was a wonderful one; the fields 
were drenched in a purple haze and the trees 
seemed wrapped in gold. At Mansfield we 
stopped for the night at The Swan Inn, most 
unattractive exteriorly but quite the oppo- 
site within. The winding oak staircase is 
three hundred years old and our rooms 
were supplied with wonderful antique oak 
beds, dressing tables, chests and clothes 
presses. The place is almost entirely fur- 
[ 132] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

nished in genuine antiques and the wife of 
the proprietor told us that her husband had 
been offered a goodly sum hy one of our 
American millionaires for the contents of 
two of the bed chambers. In the hall was a 
crackling fire, its flickering flames of many 
forms and colors lighting up the comfort- 
able chairs around the hearth and from their 
brass cages, several brilliantly plumaged 
parrots talked and crooned to us. 



133 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



III 



THE DUKERIES AND SHERWOOD FOREST 

September 6th. It was delightful driving 
forth in the fresh fragrance of the early 
morning, the roads free from traffic and 
children. Soon we reached Hardwick Hall, 
the stately home and one of the magnificent 
seats of the Duke of Devonshire. It was 
erected by the famous Elizabeth Hardwick, 
popularly known as "Bess of Hardwick," 
one of the richest women of the time of 
Queen Elizabeth. This wonderful person 
was born in the old hall at Hardwick which 
is now in ruins. She was married four times 
gaining great wealth by every marriage, and 
had children only by her second husband. 
Sir William Cavendish; their second son 
was created first Earl of Devonshire. Her 
fourth husband was the great Earl of Shrews- 
bury, whose death preceded hers by seven- 
teen years, she herself dying at the ripe old 
age of eighty-seven. She was unremittingly 
engaged in erecting mansions, it is said, be- 

[134] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

cause a gypsy informed her that her death 
could not happen so long as she continued 
building, so Chatsworth, Owlcotes, and 
Hardwick rose at her bidding, the latter 
place, however, was not completed during 
her lifetime. 

This oblong building faces an enclosed 
garden, the main flower beds of which form 
the initials E. S. (Elizabeth Shrewsbury). 
It is an Elizabethan building having six 
square towers, surmounted by open-work 
battlements in which the initials are carved 
beneath a coronet. The large number of 
lofty windows gave rise to the jingle, " Hard- 
wick Hall, more glass than wall." 

The rooms are all magnificently furnished 
in seventeenth century Jacobean furniture 
and the walls hung with the richest tapes- 
tries. The State Room is seventy feet long 
and thirty-three feet wide and another noble 
apartment is the famous Picture Gallery 
extending the whole length of the build- 
ing and lighted by twenty-seven thousand 
panes of glass. Among the pictures are 
portraits of the rival queens, Elizabeth and 
Mary, the latter in sombre garb, the beau- 
tiful Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, 

[135] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

"Bess of Hardwick" and Arabella Stuart 
who was born at Chatsworth in 1575. She 
was the niece of Mary Queen of Scots, and 
grand-daughter of "Bess." It was Arabella 
Stuart, who, when her cousin James the 
First was on the throne, married without 
his permission; both she and her husband 
were immediately imprisoned and from her 
weary incarceration in the Tower she was 
released only by her death, after losing her 
reason. 

For ten years Mary Queen of Scots was 
entrusted to the custody of the Earl of 
Shrewsbury, and one may be sure his mas- 
terful spouse was practically the jailor of 
the Queen. In the apartment known as 
Mary Stuart's room there are numerous 
relics of the Queen, the chief being the bed 
having an exquisitely worked quilt with 
hangings of black velvet, embroidered with 
flowers of colored silk, done by Mary and 
her attendants. She was really confined 
in the old hall, but her eifects were removed 
to the presentb uilding. Over the doorway 
are her initials and around the walls runs the 
inscription, " Marie Stewart, par le grace de 
Dieu, Royne de Scosse, Douariere de Franc e.^^ 
[136] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The ruins of the old hall stand on the 
brow of the hill, at right angles to the new 
building; it is but a fragment now, roofless, 
moss grown and luxuriantly mantled in ivy. 

Bolsover Castle, which is the property of 
the Duke of Portland, was originally a Nor- 
man fortress erected by William Peveril, a 
natural son of William the Conqueror. The 
present building was the work of Sir Charles 
Cavendish, son of "Bess" and the father of 
the first Duke of Newcastle. The part that 
is in ruins is far more beautiful than the 
habitable portion, in which Charles First 
was entertained in royal fashion on three 
occasions, when Ben Jonson was master of 
ceremonies and wrote the masques, one of 
which was "Love's Welcome." The chief 
apartment in the Keep is the Star Chamber, 
built in imitation of that infamous apart- 
ment that brought such odium upon Charles 
First. None of the rooms are furnished 
now and much of the handsome wood work 
has been removed to Welback Abbey. The 
Long Gallery and dining hall have hand- 
some groined roofs and the "pillar room" 
is unique. 

The Baily Wall encloses an ancient and 
[137] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

curious garden containing a carved stone 
fountain and numerous seats and summer- 
houses. Around this wall, it is said, Mary 
Stuart drove a pair of horses, to win a wager, 
and made the circuit safely. 

Bolsover is the center of a colliery dis- 
trict of considerable importance. From one 
of the mines alone the Duke of Portland is 
said to draw upwards of fifty thousand 
pounds a year in royalties. From the ter- 
race of Bolsover is a wonderful view of Der- 
byshire and the model village of Bolsover. 

For about five miles we drove on, rabbits 
scurrying away in droves at our approach 
and pheasants glancing shyly at us from 
amid the fringe of bracken. Then before 
us lay the park of Welback Abbey, studded 
with herds of deer, including a white vari- 
ety, and thousands of sheep. In the dis- 
tance were the foot hills of Derbyshire, and 
to our right Sherwood Forest proudly 
swept. Nestling snugly in the vale is this 
forest home of the Duke of Portland, a site 
possessing all the varied charms that wood 
and water can give. 

We passed "The Winnings," a group of 
white stone buildings, — almshouses erected 
[138] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

by the Duke of Portland at the request 
of his wife, for the benefit of the poor and 
to commemorate the success of his race- 
horses in 1888, 1889 and 1890. The Abbey 
was founded by Thomas de Cuckney and 
was one of the wealthiest in the country; at 
the Dissolution it was granted to an ancestor 
of Whalley the regicide, from whose heirs 
it descended to "Bess of Hardwick," who, 
in turn, left it to Sir Charles Cavendish (one 
of the sons by her second husband); from 
his family it passed by marriage to Wil- 
liam Bentinck, second Duke of Portland. 
A large portion of the present structure is 
the work of "Bess" and her son, suites 
of rooms and wings being added by suc- 
cessive owners of later date. The old and 
new parts harmonize so well that it is im- 
possible to tell where one ends and the 
other begins. It is a perfect palace of lux- 
ury, containing a vast collection of valuable 
paintings and articles of vertu. Visitors are 
allowed to go through the underground pic- 
ture gallery which is said to be "the largest 
and in every way the most magnificent pri- 
vate ball-room in England." Most of the 
pictures are copies of the originals which are 
[139] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

in the apartments above, and to which stran- 
gers are not admitted. 

The fifth Duke of Portland, called "the 
invisible prince," on account of his reclusive 
habits, turned Welbeck into a huge works- 
shop, and for eighteen years the stone- 
mason, the iron-founder and the carpenter 
were incessantly at work at an annual cost of 
about one hundred thousand pounds. He 
had built the underground apartments and 
subterranean passages, which are the unique 
features of Welbeck, radiating in all direc- 
tions from the Abbey, for several miles; 
some are wide enough to be used as carriage 
roads, and all are pleasant to walk or ride 
in, being dry, free from draughts and lighted 
by circular glasses that protrude above the 
surface of the ground all over the fields. 

The riding school is three hundred and 
eighty-five feet long, one hundred and four 
feet broad, and fifty-one feet high, the entire 
roof is glass; when artificial light is needed it 
is provided by eight thousand gas jets. The 
ornamentation includes a carved stone cor- 
nice and a metal frieze displaying represen- 
tations of animals, birds and foliage. 

The hunting stable contains stalls for 

[ 140] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

ninety-six horses and all the buildings, in- 
cluding the stables, poultry-houses, cow- 
houses and dairy are extensive and fitted 
in the most approved style. The gardens are 
very beautiful, the walls espaliered with pear 
trees and one finds many orangeries, vin- 
eries and conservatories, while the kitchen 
garden covers an area of ten acres. The 
terraces of the Abbey that face the river 
Meden are most artistic, the glistening 
river having its surface dotted with swans. 
About half a mile beyond the gates of 
Welbeck a charming forest road leads to 
the entrance of Clumber Park. There we 
found ourselves amidst scenery such as 
Sherwood alone can show. Huge old oaks 
are seen only here and there, but the varied 
hues of the heather, gorse, and bracken in 
profusion, together with the silver birches, 
combine to make the scene idyllic. Passing 
under a waving canopy of firs and larches 
we drove through the famous avenue of 
lime trees, which is about three miles long, 
with a double row of limes the entire length, 
and between the trees the bracken, out of 
which the rabbits were playing hide and 
seek. 

[141] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Clumber House is owned by the Duke of 
Newcastle; it is of white freestone and was 
erected in 1772 by the second Duke, who 
also formed the lake which fronts the house, 
the pleasure grounds and plantation. Un- 
fortunately the Duke was in residence, and 
the house closed to visitors. The Dukes of 
Newcastle and their ancestors have ever 
been patrons of the fine arts, and as a con- 
sequence possess a priceless collection of 
paintings, many choice ceramics and rare 
pieces of furniture. 

The park has an area of four thousand 
acres and is eleven miles around, the whole 
estate comprising thirty-five thousand acres. 
Going south we passed through part of the 
estate and having reached its limits, en- 
tered Thoresby Park, which is twelve miles 
in circumference, and remarkable for its 
forest scenery; some of the trees now stand- 
ing were growing when King John was upon 
the throne, seven centuries ago. We drove 
through a dense foliage of monster oaks, 
the branches stretching across and forming 
beautiful living arches, the curtains of green 
leaves so thick that at times the gnarled old 
trunks of giant girth could scarcely be seen. 
[ 142] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

It is worth travelling hundreds of miles to 
look at such scenery, and scarcely anywhere 
else can its like be beheld. These are truly 
veteran oaks, the partiarchs of Sherwood 
Forest, noble and picturesque in their decay. 

Thoresby House, the home of Earl Man- 
vers, is the third mansion erected there; the 
first, in which the Lady Mary Wortley Mon- 
tagu was born, was destroyed by fire; then 
the Duke of Kingston, an ancestor of Earl 
Manvers, built another, which was demol- 
ished to make room for the present building, 
a stately edifice in Elizabethan style. 

On our way to Edwinstowe, we left the 
car on. the high road and going in about a 
hundred yards through the forest visited 
the Major or Queen Oak, whose gnarled, 
weather-beaten trunk of vast proportions 
has witnessed possibly a thousand years. 
At the height of five feet it measures thirty 
feet in circumference; and its monster 
branches cover a straight line of two hun- 
dred and forty feet. It is most remarkable 
on account of the emptiness of the bole, it be- 
ing quite hollow to the height of fifteen feet, 
and its interior, which is gained through a 
fissure, affords standing room for several per- 

1 143 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

sons. It is recorded by one historian that 
seven persons have breakfasted together 
within this space, and sixteen persons have 
been known to squeeze themselves within its 
wooden walls. The marks of many tem- 
pests are visible upon its time-worn frame. 

Edwinstowe traces its history back to 
the days when Edwin, King of Northum- 
bria, having been slain in battle at Hatfield 
in Yorkshire, was buried in Sherwood Forest, 
this incident giving it its name. From that 
village, we took the road past the Duke's 
Archway which stands in a grassy drive; it 
is almost an exact copy of the Priory Gate- 
way at Worksop and was built by the Duke 
of Portland in 1842. Two sides are used as 
dwellings and once the large upper room in 
the centre was used as a school. In the 
niches are figures of Robin Hood, Maid 
Marian, Richard First, Friar Tuck, and 
Alan-a-Dale. 

The Parliament Oak is near here, and is 
one of the oldest trees in the Forest. There 
is a tradition that Edward First held a par- 
liament under its branches in 1290; King 
John is also said to have summoned a coun- 
cil of Barons there. 

[144] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

After leaving this we passed through the 
Birklands, a portion of the Forest belonging 
to the Duke of Portland, which owes its 
name to its birches, though there are many 
gnarled and knotted oaks and mighty 
beeches too. 

Near there is Rufford Abbey, the seat of 
Lord Saville. It is sometimes shown to 
travellers, but the King was a guest to-day, 
having come for the races which are taking 
place at Doncaster, so the house was closed 
to us. 

Rufford, called "Rumforde" by the Nor- 
mans, passed from them to Gilbert de Gaunt, 
nephew of William the Conqueror. Then 
the Earl of Lincoln, his eldest son, made 
the place the site of a Cistercian Monastery. 
At the Dissolution, it was given to the Earl 
of Shrewsbury, the father of the last hus- 
band of "Bess." Here it was that she 
brought about the marriage of her daughter 
Elizabeth with the brother of Darnley, hus- 
band of Mary Stuart. The unfortunate Ar- 
abella Stuart was the offspring of this union. 

Over the Clips tone road we returned to 
Mansfield to spend another night at the 
charming little hostelry there. 

[145] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



IV 



THE BYRON COUNTRY, HADDON HALL, SHEF- 
FIELD AND LEEDS 

September yth. Regretfully we left the 
Swan, and continued our way to Newstead 
Abbey, the ancient home of Lord Byron. 
This Abbey was one of the houses erected 
by Henry Second in expiation of the mur- 
der of Thomas a Becket, and dedicated to 
God and the Virgin Mary. At the Dis- 
solution it was granted by Henry Eighth to 
Sir John Byron who made it his favorite res- 
dence. He destroyed little of the old fabric, 
except the church; this he dismantled and 
it has since been allowed to fall into pictur- 
esque ruin. Before the monks yielded pos- 
session of the Abbey they collected their 
most valuable charters, hid them in the lec- 
tern and threw that in the adjoining lake; 
where it was found a century and a quarter 
ago, but their ornaments of gold and silver 
supposed to have been put in chests and 
disposed of in the same way, have never 
been discovered. 

[146] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Under the Byrons, Newstead was fre- 
quently the scene of revelry and was some- 
times visited by royalty. They were a sol- 
dierly race and ardent partisans of Charles 
First, who enobled Sir John Byron. 

Lord Byron's immediate predecessor to 
the title, his grand-uncle, was known as 
**The wicked Lord Byron" and was ostra- 
cised by society after killing Mr. Chaworth 
in a duel at Annesley Hall. He afterward 
retired to lead a secluded and miserable life 
at Newstead. His wife and children and 
servants suffered from his animosity, and 
to spite his sons he allowed the Abbey to 
fall into decay and cut down all the beauti- 
ful majestic oaks he could, this work of de- 
struction being finally stopped by an injunc- 
tion obtained by the heir. He outlived his 
sons, so the estate descended to Lord Byron, 
of literary fame, to whom he contemptu- 
ously referred as, "the little lame brat at 
Aberdeen." 

After completing his education at Cam- 
bridge, Byron settled at Newstead, where 
his conduct was most eccentric. He sur- 
rounded himself with hare-brained compan- 
ions and, with them, gained unenviable 

[147] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

fame for his lawlessness. He was greatly 
attached to the place, however, and upon 
being urged to sell it when pressed for 
money replied, "Newstead and I stand or 
fall together, — I have fixed my heart upon 
it and no pressure present or future shall 
induce me to barter the last vestige of our 
inheritance." But later he was obliged to 
do so, though it grieved him deeply to part 
with his home. An old Harrow school 
friend. Colonel Wildman, bought it; later it 
was purchased by W. F. Webb, Esq., who 
finished the restoration begun by Colonel 
Wildman, and was succeeded by his daugh- 
ter and her husband. General Sir H. Cherm- 
side. 

Many events had happened to Lord By- 
ron before parting with his home. He had 
written magnificent poetry, waking one 
morning to find himself famous; he had 
travelled and made an unhappy marriage; 
he had taken his seat in the House of Lords, 
and he had been alternately the pet and the 
horror of the beau monde. After selling the 
Abbey he never returned to England, but 
lived on the continent, continuing his writ- 
ing, and died assisting the Greeks to obtain 
[148] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

their independence. His body was brought 
home by his valet and buried in Hucknall 
Torkard church. 

The ruins of the Abbey church are a beau- 
tiful example of Early English architecture. 
In the words of Byron it is "a glorious rem- 
nant of the Gothic pile," having in its cen- 
tre a large window: — 

" Shorn of Its glass of thousand colorings 
Through which the deepened glories once could 

enter 
Streaming oif from the sun like seraph's wings." 

In the centre below this is the grand portal 
from which the doors have long since been 
shed. The entrance to the house is gained 
through the old crypt, which has a low 
groined ceiling supported by pillars and on 
the floor and walls are many trophies of 
the chase gathered in various parts of the 
globe. Adjoining this is the parlor of the 
Monks. 

The grand staircase leads to the library, 
a long narrow room extending almost the 
whole length of the north side. Its oak 
panellings are decorated with various por- 
traits, including one of Sir John Byron "of 
the great beard," to whom the Abbey was 

[149I 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

given by the eighth Henry. There is a fine 
collection of books, ancient and modern, 
and the other notable contents of the apart- 
ment comprise three stained glass windows, 
relics of the old building, a noble marble 
chimney-piece heavily carved with grapes, 
and an ebony chair which belonged to Henry 
the Eighth. 

The Monk's Dormitory now does duty 
as a grand drawing-room, its arched and 
richly decorated ceiling with its massive 
oak frame work dates from 1635. The pic- 
tures include the famous portrait of Byron 
painted by Philips, the refined features 
wearing a melancholy expression and a spir- 
ituality which the poet probably did not 
possess. Rich and rare cabinets are a fea- 
ture of this room, one beautiful specimen is 
of ebony inlaid with ivory of old Milanese 
work; another with innumerable little draw- 
ers is of ebony and tortoise-shell; another 
is of ebony and silver; and still another, old 
Italian in richly carved gilt. There is also a 
beautiful ivory chair inlaid with gold, once 
the property of Warren Hastings, who re- 
ceived it from Tippo Sahib. 

In the south corner are the interesting 
[150] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

relics of the poet; among them are his box- 
ing gloves, single sticks, ink-stand, candle- 
sticks, a copy of his first volume of poems 
and the penholder he used when writing 
"Childe Harold." These are displayed on 
a small circular table, on which Byron 
wrote "EngHsh Bards and Scotch Review- 
ers." Upon it too, during his final stay in 
England, Livingstone penned his last book, 
"The Zambesi and Its Tributaries." He was 
a personal friend of Mr. Webb's, and care- 
fully preserved there is the hat that Living- 
stone wore during his last travels, together 
with other relics of the great explorer. There 
are also the cap and jacket worn by Byron 
in Greece, his sword stick, helmet and sa- 
bretache, — all relics of the campaign in 
which he lost his life, — and the fragment of 
tree upon which the poet carved his own and 
his sister's name on the occasion of his last 
visit to Newstead. 

The refectory is now used as the dining- 
hall; it is panelled in oak said to be from one 
tree which grew in Hardwick Park. The 
Abbot's dining-room, Byron used for the 
same purpose, and the table and wine cool- 
ers are those of the poet-lord. 

[151I 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

A winding staircase, on which is a stained 
glass window seven hundred years old, leads 
to the rooms used by Byron. These are 
jealously preserved in their olden state, so 
that they are seen very much as they were 
in his day. There are three rooms, the bed- 
room, the dressing-room, and the Monk's 
or Haunted Chamber. Upon the walls of the 
dressing-room are portraits of the poet's 
faithful retainer, "Old John Murray," and 
his pugilistic friend, "Gentleman Jackson," 
with views of Oxford, Cambridge and Har- 
row. A gilded four-poster surmounted with 
coronets, his dressing table with all the toi- 
let articles he so frequently used, the chairs 
he sat upon and the pictures he loved are in 
the sleeping-room. The third room was for 
his valet, but before that was the Monk's 
Infirmary, and as it looked into the church, 
enabled the invalid to hear the service said 
below. This apartment is supposed to be 
haunted by the ghost of a monk, whose duty 
it was to wreak vengeance upon successive 
generations of Byrons holding the property. 
Lord Byron asserted that he had seen the 
ghost on several occasions and alludes to it 
in one of his poems : — 
[152] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

*'A monk remained, unchased, unchained, 
And he did not seem formed of clay, 
For he's seen in the porch, and he's seen in the 
church 
Though he is not seen by day. 

*'By the marriage-bed of their lords, 'tis said 
He flits on the bridal eve: 
And 'tis held as faith, to their bed of death 
He comes, but not to grieve. 

"When an heir is born, he's heard to mourn; 
And when aught is to befall 
The ancient line, in the pale moonshine, 
He walks from hall to hall." 

The cloisters resemble those at Westmin* 
ster Abbey, on a smaller scale and in the 
centre of the quadrangle is an ancient foun- 
tain whose stream has sparkled hundreds of 
years. Near it is a subterranean passage 
used as a bath by Byron, who was obliged to 
light it with lamps or candles. Tradition 
says it was used by the monks as a lavatory 
in which to wash their dead brethren. The 
present chapel is the Chapter House of mon- 
astic times. In Byron's day it was sadly 
neglected; but he was even then able to de- 
scribe it as: — 

"An exquisite small chapel had been able, 
Still unimpaired, to decorate the scene." 

[ 153 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Byron's oak is in the gardens, which were 
laid out by Le Notre and are after the style 
of Versailles and Hampton Court. "Boat- 
swain" is buried in the old church where the 
high altar formerly stood; the poet wished 
to be buried in the same spot, but when he 
sold the Abbey he knew his wish would never 
be fulfilled. His fine Newfoundland dog 
was his constant companion; unfortunately 
he was seized with madness, but Byron was 
so ignorant of the nature of the dog's malady 
that he continued to fondle him and even 
wiped away with his own hand the foaming 
saliva from the animal's mouth, but to his 
master's great grief, the attack proved fatal. 
Over his grave Byron erected a marble mon- 
ument bearing the following inscription : — 

''Near this spot are deposited the remains 
of one who possessed beauty without vanity, 
strength without indolence, courage with- 
out ferocity, and all the virtues of man with- 
out his vices." This praise which would be 
unmeaning flattery if inscribed over human 
ashes, is but a just tribute to the memory of 
Boatswain, a dog, who was born at New- 
foundland, May 1803, and died at Newstead 
Abbey, November i8th, 1808." 
[154] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

With deep feeling we approached the high 
altar in Hucknall Torkard church. The 
poet's grave is marked by a marble slab 
sent by the King of Greece in recogni- 
tion of Byron's services. The inscription is, 
^' Byron, born Jan. 22nd., 1788; died April 
19th, 1824." Upon the south wall of the 
chancel is a plain mural tablet bearing the 
inscription : — 

"In the vault beneath, where many of his 
ancestors and his mother are buried, lie the 
remains of George Gordon Noel Byron, 
Lord Byron of Rochdale, in the county of 
Lancaster, the author of 'Childe Harold's 
Pilgrimage.' He was born in London on 
the 22nd of January, 1788. He died at Mis- 
solonghi, in Western Greece, on the 19th of 
April, 1824, engaged in the glorious attempt 
to restore to the country her ancient free- 
dom and renown." 

Beside it is the memorial tablet of the 
poet's only daughter Ada Augusta, "sole 
daughter of my house and heart." In the 
vestry is a panel in memory of Byron, and 
in the wall near by his grave is a marble pro- 
file medallion of the poet's visage, the gift 
of an admirer. 

[155] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

A short drive to the southwest took us 
to Annesley Hall, which nestles amid trees 
by the side of a beautiful lake. This hall is 
the old home of the Chaworth family, one 
of whom was killed in that infamous duel in 
the dark, by the grand-uncle of Lord Byron, 
from whom he inherited the title. It was 
Mary Chaworth with whom Byron fell 
deeply in love in his fifteenth year. She was 
a distant relative, consequently he spent 
much time at Annesley Hall; his love was 
not reciprocated, but with Byron it was a 
consuming passion which he enslirined in 
his poem "The Dream." After her marriage 
to Mr. Musters of Colwick Hall, Byron saw 
her and her child and, needless to say, was 
much affected by the sight. The poem, 
"Well! Thou Art Happy" has reference to 
the meeting and describes the feelings which 
it excited in the poet's breast. Its conclud- 
ing lines breathes his despair: — 

"Away! away! my early dream, 

Remembrance never must awake: 
Ohl where is Lethe's fabled stream? 
My foolish heart, be still, or break." 

Through Alfreton and Ripley we entered 
the Derbyshire country. Our way led 
[156] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

through the several Matlocks which extend 
along the Derwent in the romantic gorge 
which that water forms. All around us were 
the rocks and mountains; on the east side of 
the river the High Tor, an abrupt lime- 
stone rock rising four hundred feet above 
the river, and on the west side, the Heights 
of Abraham. Petrifying wells are numerous 
and there are delightful walks on both banks 
of Derwent River. At Rowsley, we lunched 
at the Peacock Inn, a quaint place with the 
sweetest old fashioned gardens. We took 
a peep in the bedrooms with their low raf- 
tered ceilings, delightfully furnished in an- 
tique mahogany with chintz coverings and 
hangings and diamond paned latticed win- 
dows. 

From there we went to Haddon Hall. It 
is picturesquely situated on a slope rising 
from the river Wye, and is an almost ideal 
specimen of an old English baronial man- 
sion. Though unoccupied it is in a fair state 
of preservation. Once the property of the 
Arundel family, Haddon in the twelfth cen- 
tury came into the hands of the Vernons, 
remaining in the family four hundred years. 
By the marriage of Dorothy Vernon it 
[157] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

passed to the Rutland family who are the 
present owners, but live at Belvoir (pro- 
nounced Beever). 

Leaving the main road, we crossed the 
river by a quaint old bridge weathered into 
a delightful harmony of greys and greens, 
and drove up to the Lodge of the custodian, 
whose little garden has yew trees clipped in 
the shape of the Vernon and Manners 
crests (the boar's head and the peacock). 

Climbing the slope, we entered the gate 
of the Norman Tower, and ascending a few 
steps were in the spacious courtyard where 
brightly colored flowers leaned their heads 
against the weather-beaten stone walls. 

The Chapel, which is the most interest- 
ing portion of the building, is situated at the 
southwest corner of the yard and is entered 
through a Gothic porch. It is of Norman 
date and consists of chancel, nave and side 
aisles. The east window contains some good 
fifteenth century glass which was put there 
by Richard Vernon and his wife Benedicta 
in 1427. The remains of the original bur- 
nished gilt ornamentations of the family 
pews, pulpit and reading desk are still visi- 
ible on the mouldings. The Vernon arms 
[158] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

carved In a fret on the old vestment chest, 
the Norman font attached by a plinth to 
one of the pillars, the old oak pews and gal- 
lery and the squint in the southwest angle 
of the church, from which a view of the 
church could be obtained without the spec- 
tator being seen, were pointed out to us by 
the daughter of the custodian. The plain 
simple roof of open timber appears to have 
been repaired or restored in 1624, as one of 
the beams bears that date carved upon it. 

Crossing the courtyard to the porch of 
the great hall, over the door of which are 
two shields bearing the arms of Vernon and 
Pembrugge, and within the portal, a Roman 
altar, found in the grounds some centuries 
ago, we entered the passage leading to the 
upper courtyard. On the left side of the 
passage is the buttery, and adjoining it is a 
vaulted apartment, probably once an ale 
cellar. From there a long dark passage leads 
to the kitchen, containing two immense 
fire-places, with irons for a great number of 
spits, and other cooking requisites, the huge 
chopping block is in the centre of the room, 
and dressers are placed about the walls. A 
large table with hollow places was used for 

1 159] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

kneading troughs. Adjacent are the scul- 
leries, larders and wine cellars. 

The banqueting hall is one of the most 
interesting and best preserved specimens 
of the kind in existence; the hall seems in 
readiness for the reception of guests; the 
minstrel gallery seems to await the arrival 
of the musicians; the raised dais, opposite 
the old oak screen, decorated with stag's 
heads and antlers, seems prepared for the 
lord of the hall and his guests, for the same 
massive oak table stands there as in by- 
gone days. Two or three decayed pictures 
still hang on the walls, and to the screen is 
affixed a curious relic of an old baronial cus- 
tom, — a strong handcuff, in which the wrist 
was confined of any recreant who refused to 
drink the orthodox quantity of liquor. His 
hand was held high above his head and his 
companions poured the rejected liquor down 
the sleeve of his doublet. 

Opening from the banquet hall is the 
dining-room; richly ornamented panellings 
cover the walls surmounted by a cornice of 
carved wood work, the upper panels being 
adorned with shields bearing the arms of the 
Manners and Vernons, the peacock and 
[i6o] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

boar's head divided by the rose, shamrock 
and thistle. A panel over the fire-place 
bears the Royal Arms and those of the 
Vernons, with the motto : — 

Drede God and Honour the Kyng. 

A recess near the entrance, with an oriel 
window looking into the garden, contains 
portraits on its panels of Henry Eighth, 
whose son. Prince Arthur, occasionally re- 
sided there, and his Queen, Elizabeth of 
York, and the grotesque head with cap and 
bells, carved near these, is supposed to be 
that of Will Somers, the jester. An ancient 
copper wine cooler is also in this room. The 
ceiling is divided by beams into bays which 
were formerly enriched by paintings, as 
traces of the latter are still visible. 

Immediately over this room is the draw- 
ing-room, where, if the ladies of the ancient 
days could return, they would see the origi- 
nal arras and frieze. The panelled walls are 
hung with the faded tapestry, and around the 
ceiling is an ornamental cornice of stucco. 
Near the entrance is an ancient chair, the old 
brass fire-dogs are still there and the pan- 
els in the window recess possess portions of 
[161I 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

their original green and gold decorations. 
A door at the upper end leads to the Earl's 
dressing-room and bed-chamber, the faded 
arras on the walls represent sporting sub- 
jects. Adjoining the bed-chamber is a small 
apartment, which is said to be the valet's 
room, but from the ornamental character of 
its decorations was more probably "my 
lady's." In this room, communicating by a 
narrow flight of stairs with the leads above 
the chapel, is a doorway concealed by the 
tapestry. 

The ball-room or grand gallery is the most 
splendid apartment at Haddon, occupying 
the greater portion of the south side of the 
mansion. It is wainscoted with oak and or- 
namented with Corinthian pilasters; on the 
frieze are carved boars' heads and peacocks 
alternating with roses and thistles. The 
windows lighting the three deep bays con- 
tain some well executed specimens of 
stained glass; on one is pictured the arms of 
the Manners and Vernons impaled and sur- 
rounded by a garter; the centre window 
has the Royal Arms of England surmounted 
by a crown, and the third has the arms of 
Shrewsbury and Manners. In a glass case 
[162] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

at the far end of the room is preserved the 
death mask of Lady Grace Manners who 
died at the age of ninety years. 

The anteroom leading from here contains 
a number of old paintings, among which 
are portraits of Queen Elizabeth, the first 
Charles, Prince Rupert and Eugene of Sa- 
voy. This room connects with the state bed- 
room; the large bay window of which over- 
looks the upper courtyard. The room with 
its lofty walls is hung with Gobelin tapestry 
picturing scenes from iEsop's Fables. The 
state bed, still preserved in a dilapidated 
condition, is hung with dark velvet lined 
with white satin, the embroidery of which 
can still be traced. George Fourth is sup- 
posed to have slept in this bed, which was 
moved to Belvoir for the purpose. This bed, 
an old fashioned dressing table, and large 
mirror are said to have been used by Queen 
Elizabeth when she visited Haddon Hall. 
At the foot of the bed stands an old oak 
cradle in which the infant members of the 
Manners family w^ere rocked. An old spinet 
and some antique chairs are the only other 
furniture there. 

Behind the tapestry is a door leading in 
[163] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

to the ancient state room, one of the oldest 
rooms at Haddon and remarkable for its 
total absence of decoration. The floors are 
of plaster, much worn, and the narrow win- 
dow and doorways are of extremely primi- 
tive workmanship, giving the apartment a 
most gloomy appearance. A short passage 
leads from this room to the circular flight of 
narrow steps of Peveril's Tower, which oc- 
cupies the northeast angle of the building. 

The view from the summit is magnificent; 
beneath are the spacious courts and em- 
battled parapets of the Hall, its terraced 
gardens and majestic woods encompassing 
it. To the north is the valley of the Wye and 
the lovely dale of the Lathkill and the towns 
of Bakewell, Monsaldale and Cresswell. In 
the opposite direction the view is equally 
grand and impressive, whilst in the imme- 
diate foreground is a succession of forests 
and meadows and behind them the lofty 
range of the peak, the dark hues of the far 
off moorlands serving to enhance the rich 
beauty of the nearer landscape. 

Retracing our steps to the anteroom ad- 
joining the ball-room we passed through 
Dorothy Vernon's doorway and descended 
[164] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the few steps to the terrace garden, planted 
with yew and holly. It was by this doorway 
that Dorothy Vernon is fondly supposed to 
have fled in order to elope with Sir John 
Manners during the festivities attending 
the marriage of her sister to Sir Thomas 
Stanley, son of the Earl of Derby. At mid- 
night while the dancing was proceeding mer- 
rily Dorothy made an excuse to her partner, 
left the ball-room, opened the stoutly barred 
door of the antechamber and fled down the 
steps, along by the sombre stately yews down 
the hill to the bridge, where John Manners 
was waiting with a fleet horse. They jour- 
neyed all night and next morning reached 
Aylston in Leicestershire, where they were 
married. In this way the Haddon and Der- 
byshire estates were brought into the Man- 
ners family. The disapproval of the match 
by the family of Dorothy was due to the dif- 
ference in religion. 

A flight of steps at one end of the garden 
leads to the avenue of lime and cedar trees, 
which is known as Dorothy Vernon's walk, 
the popular tradition being that it was a 
favorite promenade of that celebrated lady. 
Another broad flight of steps from an open 
[ 165 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

balustrade on the north side of the terrace 
leads to the principal garden, the sides of 
which are laid out in pastures bordered with 
box and yew and the centre occupied by two 
grass plots separated by a gravelled walk. 
Rounding the lower end of the building we 
passed through a wicket-gate close to where 
we had entered the Hall, and noticed over 
the entrance the sculptured shields on which 
are the armourial bearings of the Vernons 
and their alliances. 

Along the peaceful Wye we drove to Bake- 
well, and in the church dedicated to All 
Saints, visited the Vernon Chapel, in the 
centre of which is a fine altar-tomb, an ex- 
tremely beautiful example of the highly dec- 
orated monuments of that period. This is 
dedicated to the memory of Sir George Ver- 
non, "The King of the Peak," who died in 
1561, and his two wives, Margaret and 
Maude. The monument of Dorothy and 
her husband stands at the north end of the 
chapeL It is large and imposing looking and 
highly ornamented with the arms of the 
families of the deceased. Beneath a semi- 
circular arch are their kneeling figures facing 
each other. Sir John in plate armour and Dor- 
fi661 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

othy in close fitting dress and with cap and 
ruff, while beneath are the four figures of 
their children. At the north end of the 
chapel is a sumptuous monument erected to 
Sir George and his wife with effigies of them- 
selves and their children. There are many 
more interesting tombs to the dead in the 
church, and some beautiful memorial win- 
dows. The church itself is like most of the 
English churches, the style varied, Norman 
in one place, Early English and Decorated 
in another, with examples of still later peri- 
ods. In the churchyard, near the wall of 
the Vernon chapel, is a Runic cross, said to 
be one of the finest in Great Britain. It is, 
exclusive of the pedestal, about eight feet in 
height and is supposed to be at least one 
thousand years old. The sculptures upon 
it illustrate the life, death, burial, resurrec- 
tion and ascension of the Redeemer. 

Bakewell is the centre of the highlands of 
England, the district abounding for miles 
around in wild and romantic scenery. The 
Duke of Rutland rebuilt the baths on the 
site of the former ancient ones and they are 
enclosed in a garden near the centre of the 
town. Many of the houses are of Eliza- 
[167] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

bethan architecture, giving a quaint aspect 
to the place. Across the ancient bridge, 
with its five pointed arched and angular but- 
tresses, we sped on to Chesterfield, a busy 
manufacturing town. Chatsworth House is 
just now closed to the public, as the present 
Duke of Devonshire is repairing it in order 
to render it more habitable for himself and 
family. 

The curious twist of the spire of the parish 
church at Chesterfield is probably due to the 
warping of the wood work below the leaden 
casing, but local legend ascribes it to the 
devil. George Stephenson, the perfecter of 
the locomotive, is buried in Trinity church, 
and there is a Stephenson Memorial Hall 
containing an engineering museum and li- 
brary. 

Our way from Chesterfield to Sheffield lay 
through thickly wooded hills and leafy val- 
leys, and in the heart of this beauty was the 
town, clouding the sky with the smoke from 
her huge chimneys, thousands in number, 
suggesting an enormous volcano. Through 
the faint haze of smoke the dim outlines of 
the buildings could be discerned. Sheffield 
lies about ten miles north of Chesterfield in 
[i68] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the West Riding of Yorkshire, at the con- 
fluence of the Don and Sheaf. It is unpre- 
possessing and smoke begrimed but pleas- 
antly situated at the east base of the hills 
forming the backbone of England. Horace 
Walpole described it as "one of the foulest 
towns of England in the most charming sit- 
uation." It early acquired a reputation for 
its blades, for the miller in "Canterbury 
Tales" is furnished with "a Sheffield thwytil 
bare he in his hose." It enjoys a world- 
wide reputation for its cutlery, files, steel 
and silver goods; also armour plate, guns and 
shells. The town itself is entirely given over 
to factories and business premises, while the 
residential suburbs spread up the slopes of 
the lovely hills on every side. The only in- 
teresting public building is Saint Peter's 
church which is prominently located in the 
heart of the town. In the Shrewsbury chapel 
there are the monuments of the Earls of 
Shrewsbury, including the gaoler of Mary 
Queen of Scots, who kept her confined for 
fourteen years, part of which time was spent 
in an old castle in Sheffield which, was demol- 
ished in the Civil War. South of Saint Pe- 
ter's is Cutler's Hall, in which is held the 
[169] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

annual Cutler's Feast the first Thursday In 
September. 

On leaving Sheffield we ran through a pass 
between the mountains of slag which sur- 
round this iron metropolis, then drove 
through a plain where the farmers were har- 
vesting their wheat, far and near. By many 
windings, our road eventually led us to 
Leeds, where we decided to spend the night. 



[ 170 1 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



V 



YORK MINSTER, BOLTON ABBEY AND WIN- 
DERMERE 

September 8th, Leeds is the great centre 
of the cloth industry, but not an interesting 
place. There was little to detain us for we 
did not care to visit the factories. There are 
many handsome modern buildings, and in 
City Square a spirited equestrian statue in 
bronze of the Black Prince, and statues of 
James Watt, John Harrison, Dean Hook 
and Doctor Priestly. The Town Hall is a 
large, ambitious, but somewhat begrimed 
structure in Paladian style, with a lofty 
clock-tower. In front of it are statues of 
Wellington, Sir Robert Peel and Queen Vic- 
toria. In the church of Saint John, the old- 
est in Leeds, the great screen is one of 
the finest Renaissance works of the kind in 
England; the church also contains its orig- 
inal oaken fittings. 

A cold windy ride we had to York, which 
we entered through Mickle Gate Bar, one of 
[171] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the picturesque gates of the city walls of the 
most ancient metropolitan see in England. 
Of course, we went directly to the Cathe- 
dral, where we walked about in silent admi- 
ration of the beauties of that glorious fane. 
The most striking features of the exterior are 
the noble west facade, the Early English 
transepts, the imposing central tower, the 
Chapter House with its flying buttresses and 
the great east window. 

The nave, though much ornamented, has 
a simplicity peculiarly pleasing. The tri- 
forium is not a distinct division, but ap- 
pears part of the clerestory design; the roof 
is of timber, painted to resemble stone, and 
in original stained glass York Minster excels 
all other English Cathedrals, which adds 
greatly to the richness of the interior. The 
transepts with their clustered piers and 
pointed arcades are the oldest part of the 
existing structure. The beautiful lancet 
windows in the north transept are known 
as the "Five Sisters" and retain the original 
glazing of a peculiarly beautiful silvery 
green colouring. The verger told us the pat- 
tern for each window was made by one of 
five sisters, which recalled to our minds the 
[172] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

story told in Nicholas Nickleby by the grey 
haired gentleman travelling with Nicholas 
in the railway coach. 

The window in the east aisle of the tran- 
sept, reproducing an older one formerly in 
the same position, commemorates Sir Frank 
Lockwood. The monument to Archbishop 
Grey in the east aisle of the south transept 
is considered the best in the Cathedral, and 
the adjacent monument of Dean Duncombe 
by Boehm is also very fine. 

The rood-screen which separates the ma- 
jestic choir from the nave is most elaborate 
with rich tabernacle work and statues of 
English Kings. The choir was set on fire by 
a madman in 1829 and the timber vaulting 
of the roof and the stalls wxre destroyed, but 
have been restored. The altar-screen too 
is a reproduction of the old one. 

The great east window, which is second 
in size to that of Gloucester alone, retains 
its fine glazing. It is seventy-eight feet high 
and thirty-one feet wide and is entirely filled 
with glass, requiring an extra mullion. There 
are no less than one hundred and three win- 
dows in the Minster, most of them entirely 
filled with old mediaeval glass and very much 

[173] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

of the beauty in color of the Cathedral de- 
pends on the glowing and mellowed tints 
with which these windows are filled. The 
superb Flamboyant window at the west end 
of the center aisle measures over sixty-five 
feet high and twenty-five wide, and consists 
entirely of old glass except the faces of the 
figures. 

The marvellouslybeautiful Chapter House 
has seven windows of five lights, all of old 
glass. The east window has been clumsily 
restored by Willement. These windows are 
as thin as paper, but are protected by outer 
panes of plate glass. The Chapter House 
which is generally considered to be the most 
beautiful in England, is octagonal in form 
and has no central pillar. Each bay is oc- 
cupied by one of the exquisite windows with 
geometrical tracery, the mullions being 
broken up into slender shafts with capitals. 
Below the windows is an arcade famous for 
its richness and curiously beautiful design, 
consisting of a series of canopies, six to each 
bay, under each of which is a seat. The 
canopies are carved with unusual richness, 
having heads and figures and finials of oak 
leaves. At the top there is a cornice of 
[174] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

carved grapes and vine leaves. In grotesque- 
ness, fertility of invention, and perfect fitness 
as decoration this could hardly be surpassed. 
The roof is of wood painted to resemble 
stone, this being the modern decoration. 
Formerly, it was decorated with figures of 
kings and bishops and the bosses covered 
with silver. This and the floor tiling have an 
unfortunate effect, but it is hoped that some 
day the new glass, the tiles and the painted 
roof will all be removed. 

The crypt is most interesting, not only 
for its own sake, but for the light it throws 
on the history of the building of the Minster. 
There we see both Norman and Saxon re- 
mains, and beyond the walls of the former 
crypt are graves showing the limits of the 
walls of an earlier period, for undoubtedly 
the graves were in the churchyard. 

The Record Room, formerly a Chantry, 
founded by Archbishop Zouch, contains the 
fabric rolls and other documents concerning 
the building and constitution of the Min- 
ster. In the vestry is the famous horn of 
Adolphus. It is made out of an elephant's 
tusk and the wide end is ornamented with 
carvings which show a strong Eastern influ- 

[175] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

ence and was probably of Byzantine work- 
manship. It was given to the Minster by 
Alphus, son of Thorold, a short time prior 
to the Conquest. He placed it on the altar 
as a sign that he gave certain lands to the 
church. The horn was lost during the Civil 
War, but found by Lord Fairfax who re- 
turned it to the Cathedral. The vestry also 
contains the fine pastoral staff given by 
Catherine of Braganza to James Smyth, the 
Roman Bishop of Gallipolis, which was torn 
from him in the streets of York at the time 
of the deposititon of James Second. 

The streets leading to and from the Min- 
ster are narrow and filled with tiny houses 
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
which overhang at their second stories and 
bulge outward or lean toward one another 
from the weakness of age. Stonegate and 
the Shambles are the quaintestof the streets, 
the latter a narrow cobble-stone lane only 
wide enough to permit the passing of one 
vehicle at a time. Half timbered houses 
line it on both sides, some of which have 
sagged so far that neighbors across the 
street may shake hands from one house to 
another. Doubtless the Shambles derived 
[176] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

its name from the butcher shops which oc- 
cupy many of the lower parts of the houses. 

After lunching we went to Saint Mary's 
Abbey, whose picturesque ruins are sur- 
rounded by gardens. In the museum of an- 
tiquities next the Abbey we saw the finest 
specimens of Roman remains we have met 
with outside of Italy. Floors of mosaic 
taken from villas constantly dug up around 
York, coffins of lead and stone uncovered by 
railway excavations, jars and vases, simple 
household utensils, and most wonderful of 
all is the mass of dark auburn hair kept in 
a special urn. It is supposed to be the hair 
of a Roman lady or British princess, dressed 
twenty centuries ago for the tomb and kept 
in place by pins of jet. 

No time remained for a walk about the 
city walls for we had to reach Bowness by 
night. Past Marston Moor, the scene of 
Cromwell's victory over the Royalists in 1644, 
we went to Knaresborough which possesses 
a Dropping Well of petrifying propensities, 
then continued on to Harrowgate among 
the Yorkshire moors. This is one of Eng- 
land's chief watering-places and is perhaps 
the most aristocratic of all English spas. 

[177] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The wells and springs are of sulphur and 
chalybeate. On we sped through Skipton, 
supposed to be the birthplace of " Fair Rosa- 
mund " mistress of the second Henry, though 
Clifford Castle on the river Wye also claims 
that distinction. 

At Bolton Abbey we paused to visit the 
poetically beautiful ruins which lie at the 
foot of the most picturesque part of Wharfe- 
dale, the finest of the Yorkshire dales and 
one of the most beautiful valleys in Eng- 
land. The Abbey, which is situated on the 
bank of the Wharfe, is an Augustine foun- 
dation of the twelfth century. The chief 
part of this not extensive ruin is the church 
which has been restored and used for service. 
At the end of the single aisle is the Maule- 
verer Chantry, in the vault below which the 
Mauleverers and Claphams are said to be 
interred in an upright position, a tradition 
referred to by Wordsworth in " The White 
Doe of Rylstone." The gallery on the south 
side of the church where the monks walked 
or heard the services is still intact. 

At the Devonshire Arms we stopped for 
tea, then rushed on to Bowness, wishing we 
had been able to make a short detour to the 

[178] 




The Shambles, York 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

south where lies Haworth, the home of the 
Brontes. At the attractive little village of 
Kirkby Lonsdale we stopped for petrol. In 
the transparent sky the sun was about to 
set, bathing the air in a delicate daffodil 
light, just tinged with lilac and enhancing 
the country which is attractively varied, 
with its mountain fells and valley and the 
lovely stretches of the river Lune both above 
and below the village whose mountain sides 
were clad in purple heather. 

Before we reached Kendal the lamps were 
lighted and the heavens studded with stars. 
Kendal Castle stood tantalizingly outlined 
for there was no moon to show its beauties. 
Here was born Catherine Parr, the last wife 
of Henry the Eighth. 

Cold and weary we reached Bowness. 
Again a telegram had provided for the 
dainty supper and hot drinks which awaited 
us and the cheerful fires which blazed in our 
cozy little rooms. 



179 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



VI 



IN THE LAKELAND 

September gth. The road from Winder- 
mere to Ambleside is one of the finest in the 
lake district. After passing the Sun Inn, 
the lake comes into view with its incompa- 
rable mountain surroundings. The housesof 
the town are irregularly built and command 
views of great beauty in all directions. In 
Saint Mary's church at Ambleside is a 
stained glass window in memory of Words- 
worth which was presented by English and 
American admirers. Another window is in 
memory of Matthew Arnold. The literary 
associations of Ambleside are many and in- 
teresting. The memory of Harriet Mar- 
tineau is indelibly linked with this village 
where her home, The Knoll, still forms a 
pleasing feature of the valley to the left of 
Grasmere road. There she wrote her famous 
*' Complete Guide to the English Lakes." 
George Eliot visited Miss Martineau at The 
[i8o] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Knoll in October, 1852, and in a letter to a 
friend, dated the 22nd of that month she 
wrote : 

"Harriet Martineau called on Mon- 
day . . . Very kind and cordial. I honor 
her for her powers and industry and should 
be glad to think highly of her. I have no 
doubt that she is fascinating when there is 
time to talk." 

Emerson also visited Harriet Martineau 
in 1855, afterwards giving an account of 
his interview with Wordsworth in "English 
Traits." 

About a mile to the north of Ambleside is 
Rydal. Its literary associations cluster 
chiefly around Rydal Mount, the later home 
of Wordsworth. The house is a modest 
dwelling of sober hue, mantled with roses, 
jessamine, ivy and Virginia creeper. Here 
he died and a few days later his remains, 
followed by a large concourse of people, 
were laid in state near those of his children 
in Grasmere churchyard. All the road out 
of Ambleside is strewn with reminiscences 
of the poet and his friends and other celeb- 
rities. There is Nab Cottage where Hartley 
Coleridge lived and died, also Fox How, the 
[181] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

residence of Doctor Arnold, — a spot sacred 
to the Rugbeians. 

Rydal Water is one of the smallest but 
also one of the most attractive of the lakes. 
On the Keswick side of Rydal village is a 
low rock called Wordsworth's Seat, the top 
of which is reached by a few steps. A short 
distance towards Grasmere and close to the 
shore, a neat roadside cottage attracts at- 
tention; this is the Nab where De Quincey 
resided for some time, ultimately marrying 
the daughter of old Simpson the former 
occupant of the cottage, with whom he 
lodged. Later the cottage was occupied 
by Hartley Coleridge who died there and 
is buried in Grasmere churchyard. 

The charming little lake of Grasmere is 
considered by some the prettiest in Lake- 
land. At Dove Cottage Wordsworth resided 
and it still presents the same appearance. 
It was here Wordsworth and his sister had 
De Quincey as a guest, and from the latter, 
who himself afterwards lived in Dove Cot- 
tage, we have a number of reminiscences of 
the days by Grasmere. The relics within 
include an entire set of the first editions of 
Wordsworth's poems, some of his manu- 
[182] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

scripts, a large number of portraits of him- 
self and family and many of his friends. 
The furniture is just as it was in the days 
when Wordsworth was there. Back of the 
house is the garden which the poet made 
by clearing away some of the trees. Flag- 
stones in the grass lead to the summit of a 
hill where a beautiful view of the lake is 
obtained. 

In the church at Grasmere is a marble 
tablet to Wordsworth, the epitaph on which 
was written by the author of the "Christian 
Year." The churchyard is more sought 
after for there the poet lies at rest with the 
other members of his family and at no great 
distance from him Coleridge's son is buried. 
Here, as in Ambleside an ancient custom is 
observed in summer. Before the aisles in 
the church were covered with matting and 
the pews with carpet, rushes were used for 
keeping the feet from the cold floor. Every 
summer a gathering of rushes was made for 
the purpose and they were borne with pleas- 
ing ceremony to the church. The necessity 
for rushes has ceased but rush-bearing is still 
an important annual festival. Garlands are 
borne by children in procession to the 
[183] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

church, and a short service held for which 
a beautiful hymn was written by Owen 
Lloyd. 

As soon as we leave the village of Gras- 
mere we commence the steep ascent of Dun- 
mail Raisewhich looks down upon Grasmere. 
The boundary of the Counties of Cumber- 
land and Westmoreland on the summit of 
the pass, a short distance beyond the stream 
is marked by the cairn "heaped over brave 
King Dunmail's bones." Legend declares 
that at this spot the wandering king fell in 
with a ghost whose appearance was much in 
her favor. He entered into a certain bar- 
gain with her, pledging his word and she 
bestowed upon him a ring, taking as a guar- 
antee of good faith the king's neck ornament. 
The king unfortunately on a subsequent oc- 
casion suffered himself to make more or less 
questionable proposals to a beautiful damsel 
whom he had rescued, and as a result of his 
faithlessness was defeated by aid of the 
wronged fairy's relations. Surprised by the 
Saxons near the Castle or fort of Helvellyn, 
he fell fighting and it is said that on snowy 
nights the phantom of the king may be seen 
pursuing a spectral maiden who, when he 
[184] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

has her almost within his grasp, vanishes in 
a snow wreath. From the brow of the pass 
there is a magnificent view of the hilltops 
and vales. The rugged rocks of the summit 
of Helm Crag assume a variety of shapes, 
according to the position from which one 
views them. The most familiar of these is 
the Crouching Lion which in due course as- 
sumes the shape of the Old Woman at the 
Organ. 

Crossing the boundary into Cumberland 
we reached Wythburn, the favourite starting 
point of those wishing to ascend Helvellyn. 
Following the road along the lake of Thirl- 
mere there is a fine view of the Armboth 
Rocks, beautiful from their irregularity, 
River and Fisher Crags among them. As we 
proceeded we had a splendid view of the 
peaceful Vale of Saint John, including the 
majestic background of Saddleback and far- 
ther along, a glimpse of Skiddaw. About 
half a mile before reaching Keswick we 
drove to the top of Castlerigg Brow, where 
one of the richest of landscapes is unfolded. 
Dipping down a steep hill and passing the 
old toll-house we entered Keswick. 

It is a large prosperous market town on 
[185] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the banks of the river Greta, close to the 
northern shore of Derwentwater, the most 
picturesque lake in England. In the Parish 
church of Crosthwaite, a half mile from the 
town, is a handsome monument to Southey 
(erected by subscription). It is a full length 
recumbent figure in white marble on a base 
of Caen stone and in the churchyard is 
his grave. 

Greta Hall, in which Coleridge lived be- 
fore Southey occupied it from 1083 to 1843, 
stands on a low hill at the northern ex- 
tremity of the town. Shelley too, when 
obliged to quit Oxford, went to Keswick 
with his child-wife, and lived under the 
protection of the Duke of Norfolk. 

The High and Low Parks are attractive 
features of the town and are situated on the 
north bank of the river. The Lodge at the 
gate of the Low Park is a museum contain- 
ing many original manuscripts, including 
the original John Peel. The great wild dog 
of Ennerdale, a desperate sheep-killing 
character is also preserved there. 

Derwentwater, the "Queen of the Lakes" 
is almost three miles long. Its compact 
form enables it to be taken in at one view. 
[1861 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The picturesque variety of the steep wooded 
crags and green hills rising from its bank and 
the grouping of its wooded islets is most 
beautiful. The largest islands are Derwent 
Isle and Saint Herbert's Isle. On the last 
is the ruined cell of a hermit of the seventh 
century. The "Floating Island" which ap- 
pears at intervals on the surface of the lake 
consists of a mass of weeds made buoyant 
by the escape of gas from the decayed vege- 
table matter. 

Over hill and dale we sped to Penrith, 
which is the junction for Northern Lakeland. 
The town is one of the oldest in the north 
and has an interesting history, having fig- 
ured prominently in all the wars between 
the Scots and the English. The town is 
overlooked by the ruins of a castle, supposed 
to have been built by the Nevilles. The 
Parish church has an old tower, the higher 
portion of which was built by Warwick the 
Kingmaker. It still displays the bear and 
ragged staff, the device of the Warwicks. 
Inside are the portraits (in stained glass) of 
the father and mother of Richard Third. 

Leaving the town behind us and cross- 
ing the bridge over the Eamont, we came 
[187] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

upon a field to the left in which is a curious 
relic known as King Arthur's Round Table, 
circular and about twenty yards in diameter, 
surrounded by a fosse and mound. It is be- 
lieved to have been a tilting-ground, or it 
may have been the scene of the oldest and 
most brutal of duels, the girdle-duel, when 
the combatants were strapped together and 
fought to death, after each had driven his 
knife into a block of wood, the portion not 
embedded was then wrapped around with a 
leather thong, the weapons were withdrawn 
and, of course, the stronger blow secured the 
longer blade. 

Ullswater Lake resembles the letter Z, 
and is composed of three unequal reaches 
lying amid majestic mountains. It is the 
lake which combines the greatest variety of 
attractions, portions of its banks possessing 
the sylvan beauty of Windermere, while 
the mountain masses at its head are scarcely 
inferior to those at Derwentwater. 

Through a leafy road where the glens 
grew deeper and fairy-er we finally emerged 
into Patterdale, a pleasant place with most 
attractive scenery. The church is dedi- 
cated to Saint Patrick, and on the high-road 
[i88] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

is the well of this Irish patron saint, said to 
have been used by him for baptismal pur- 
poses. From this side too one can ascend 
Helvellyn and other scrambles are those to 
the tops of Stybarrow Crag, Place Fell and 
Fairfield. 

From Patterdale we began the ascent of 
Kirkstone Pass, our good car proving the 
exception to the rhyme : 

"He surely is an arrant ass 
Who pays to drive up Kirkstone Pass 
You'll find, in spite of all their talking 
You've got to walk, and pay for walking." 

The lofty mountains on both sides are 
covered with fragments of rock, and little 
streams run wildly down the pass. Evidently 
there is some vegetation, for sheep and cows 
are browsing on the steep sides, looking like 
toys glued to the landscape. Soon we looked 
down on the heights of Patterdale and 
the Brothers ' Water, which lake is said to 
derive its name from the fact that on two 
separate occasions two brothers were 
drowned in it. The two lakelets in the east 
are Hayes Water and Angle Tarn, both 
well stocked with trout. After amusing 
ourselves with the marvellous repeating 
[189] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

echo from Kirkstone Top, we went on about 
a hundred yards to the small public house 
which is appropriately named the "Trav- 
ellers' Rest." From its front we revelled in 
the unending miles of mountain scenery, 
weird, wild and rugged. Looking south, 
Windermere appeared but a speck of glit- 
tering silvery mercury, dots of similar ap- 
pearance being the minor lakes at intervals 
along the way. 

From the Inn we descended a very steep 
road to Ambleside. The shadows were 
slanting far to the eastward as we drove 
into the town of Windermere, whose lake is 
the noblest sheet of water in England. It is 
over ten miles long and a mile in breadth, 
with fourteen pretty wooded islets dotting 
its surface, forming one of its most attrac- 
tive features. Its banks are beautifully 
wooded and enlivened with numerous tree 
and shrub embowered villas having beauti- 
ful gardens. The shops are all "smartly 
modern." 

Bowness is a labyrinth of small streets, 

containing numerous pretty dwellings. The 

ancient structure of Saint Martin's church 

has a beautiful east window, one of the 

[ 190] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

oldest in the kingdom, taken from Cartmell 
Priory. The principal amusements of Win- 
dermere and Bowness are yachting and boat- 
ing, and the craft include many electric 
launches. 

Tired and hungry we reached Storrs Hall, 
there to enjoy a good English dinner and 
later write our last letters before sailing. 



1 191] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



VII 

FURNESS ABBEY, LEVENS HALL, LIVERPOOL 
AND CHESTER 

September loth. The sun streaming In 
our windows warned us to be up and on our 
way to Furness Abbey. We had a glorious 
view of the lake from the dining-room win- 
dows and much regretted having to leave 
this delightful spot. Through the private 
grounds and out of the south gate of Storrs 
Hall, we followed the shore of the lake of 
Windemere until we reached Newby Bridge, 
which place owes its name to the quaint 
old-world bridge which has five low arches 
of unequal size and sharply pointed but- 
tresses. The recesses, in which a pedestrian 
may take refuge when endangered by pass- 
ing vehicles, carry the imagination back to 
the times when locomotion was primitive. 

Following the river Leven to Ulverston, 
a considerable town having linen and cotton 
factories, we continued to Dalton, a pictur- 
esquely situated mining centre, interesting 
[192] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

as the birthplace of Romney, the portrait 
painter. His grave is in the churchyard 
marked by a plain stone inscribed "Pictor 
Celeberimus." 

A little farther on is the Gateway Chapel 
of Furness Abbey. Few ruins are more im- 
posing in their proportions, more charming 
in their situation, or more affecting in their 
decay, than the remains of the once noble 
Abbey of Saint Mary of Furness. It was 
founded in 1127 by Stephen, Earl of More- 
ton and Bologne, afterwards King of Eng- 
land. The Abbot always exercised vicere- 
gal power, had the assize of bread and ale 
throughout the district, Aldingham and Ul- 
verston excepted, the appointment of chief 
constable for the liberty, free chase through 
all the district and wrecks of sea on the coast, 
except in Aldingham. Many wealthy per- 
sons bestowxd lands and other gifts upon 
the monks ; Sir Michael le Fleming and Wil- 
liam of Lancaster being great benefactors to 
the Abbey as were the Kirkbys of Kirkby, 
Boughtons of Houghton, and Huddlestons 
of Millom. So large were the possessions 
of this establishment here and in other coun- 
ties, and to such an extent did its opulence 

[193] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

augment, that it was surpassed by no reli- 
gious house in the kingdom, except Foun- 
tains Abbey in Yorkshire. 

At present the Abbey belongs to the noble 
Cavendish family who take great interest 
in the preservation of the beautiful ruins. 
The church built as usual in the form of a 
cross possessed various subdivisions, and 
from the portions still visible an accurate 
idea of its proportions and limits can be 
gained. 

The western tower or belfry has immensely 
thick walls with buttresses; the splendid 
Perpendicular west window has splays dec- 
orated with the leaf-like ornaments of that 
period, while the staircase in the wall of 
the tower is in an excellent state of preserva- 
tion. 

The floors of the nave and aisles are grass 
covered; the transept walls are of their orig- 
inal height, and the bases of the screen which 
intersected the choir still remain. 

The external mouldings of the great chan- 
cel window are supported on each side by 
crowned heads, supposed to represent Ste- 
phen, the founder, and Maud, his wife. In 
the south wall of the chancel are the Sedilia, 
[ 194 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

a marvel of art In masonry executed in the 
most exquisite Decorated style. 

The beautiful Chapter House arrests at- 
tention at once, with its three richly moulded 
semi-circular arches, decorated with dog- 
tooth moulding. The middle archway is an 
open porch, with groined and vaulted roof 
and this forms the entrance to the four sided 
room whose vaulted roof, long fallen in, was 
supported by two rows of slender columns, 
the bases of all of them being intact. The 
rosy sandstone draped in ivy is the beauti- 
ful feature of this ruin. More decoration 
seems to have been lavished on this apart- 
ment and the chancel than on any other 
part of the edifice. 

The Refectory, Cloisters, Fratery and 
Great Hall are magnificent ruins. The lat- 
ter now serves as a repository for relics 
found among the ruins, included in which 
are many curious gargoyles, corbels, mould- 
ings, pieces of piping and other interesting 
remains. 

Retracing our way through Dalton, Ulver- 

ston and Newby Bridge, we dipped down 

over the river Gilpin. Crossing it, we found 

ourselves in front of Levens Hall the "Ban- 

[195] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

nisdale" of Mrs. Humphrey Ward's ''Hel- 
beck of Bannisdale." 

It is a picturesque pre-Elizabethan man- 
sion famous in historic annals, rich in rare 
ornate oak carving and in works of art by 
great masters. Through the postern gate 
we entered the "Topiary" garden equal in 
every respect to that of Hampton Court. 
In the noble park are luxuriant rows of 
stately and venerable beeches and oaks, long 
stretches of broad grass-clad avenues and 
shady foot-paths. The distinction this gar- 
den enjoys is largely due to the many quaint 
images cut in box and yew. Cones, cylinders, 
pyramids and arches are plentifully dotted 
about and there is a peacock, a lion and a 
row of chessmen, all shaped in the trimmest 
way in the green bushes. 

Through the park under the old ivy clad 
bridge, past the front of the hall, the river 
Kent winds onward in broad, rippling shal- 
lows, and calm deep pools to join the waters 
of Moorecambe Bay. 

At Lancaster we lunched. The Castle 

there still retaining its ancient keep with a 

turret known as "John of Gaunt's Chair," is 

now the gaol. Past neat farm-houses, their 

[196] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

lawns and gardens as well-kept as many of 
our suburban districts at home, we continued 
to Preston, an important cotton manufactur- 
ing town, and then drove into Liverpool. 

There we were fortunate enough to gain 
entrance to the Walker Art Gallery as it was 
Students' Day and the pictures could be 
inspected until six o'clock. "The Meeting 
of Dante and Beatrice" by Henry Holladay 
and the Rosetti painting of "Dante's 
Dream" are there and are poems in color. 
Besides the very good collection of modern 
paintings, the gallery contains the Roscoe 
Collection, which includes early Italian, 
Flemish and German paintings and many 
casts of Greek sculptures. Opposite the 
gallery is the Wellington monument, a col- 
umn one hundred and fifteen feet high. 

Down through the busy streets we made 
our way to the ferry and were conveyed 
across the Mersey to Birkenhead. At Port 
Sunlight the workmen were returning from 
the soap factory to their model little houses, 
each having a garden in front of it and 
clambering vines on its walls. The village 
resembles the pictures of "Spotless Town" 
with its well-kept dwellings. 
[197] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

The sun was falling rapidly against the 
west when we reached Chester and cast a 
soft glow on the buildings which are mostly 
built of rosy sandstone. We spent the night 
at The Queen and had the largest sleeping- 
room we had ever occupied in a hotel. 



198 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



VIII 

THE GLADSTONE COUNTRY AND WALES 

September nth. Chester, the capital of 
Cheshire, is doubtless the most quaint and 
mediaeval town in England, every effort 
having been made to carry out modern im- 
provements in such a way as to interfere as 
little as possible with the characteristic 
features of the place. It still bears distinct 
traces of its origin in a Roman Castrum, 
and the older part is surrounded by walls, 
the walk around which forms the best intro- 
duction to the city. At the northeast angle 
is the Phoenix Tower, the most interesting 
of those still remaining, still bearing an 
inscription, recording that Charles First 
here witnessed the defeat of his troops on 
Rowton Moor. The Water Tower owes its 
name to the fact that ships used to be 
moored to it in the days when the tidal 
water of the Dee washed the walls of Ches- 
ter. Morgan's Mount has an ancient watch- 

[ 199 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

tower; the ruins of the Goblin Tower are 
now called Pemberton's Parlor. 

The Rows form the distinguishing archi- 
tectural feature of Chester. How they orig- 
inated is uncertain and various are the 
theories that have been advanced to account 
for them. They are continuous galleries or 
arcades occupying the place of the front 
rooms of the first floors of the houses lining 
the streets, the ceilings of the ground floor 
forming the foot-path, while the upper sto- 
ries form the roof. They are approached 
from the streets by a flight of steps and con- 
tain a second row of shops. Those in East- 
gate Row are the most attractive; the Water- 
gate Rows are less interesting, but the street 
contains the three finest specimens of the 
old timber-built houses, in the number of 
which Chester excels all other English cities. 

Here is God's Providence House, so called 
from the inscription it bears, which is said to 
be a grateful commemoration of immunity 
from the plague in the seventeenth century. 
Near it is Bishop Lloyd's house with richly 
carved and pargeted front. Farther along is 
Stanley House or Palace, the oldest timber 
house of importance in Chester, originally 
[ 200 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the town house of the Earls of Derby. Its 
small rooms and beautifully carved staircases 
are well worth seeing. The Yacht Inn, where 
Dean Swift once lodged, is also in this street. 
It was there that he, annoyed that none of 
the Cathedral dignitaries responded to his 
invitation to sup with him, scutcheoned on 
a window-pane the following sharp couplet : 

"Rotten without and mouldering within 
This place and its clergy are neariy akin." 

The cathedral was formerly the church of 
a Benedictine Abbey, founded by Hugh 
Lupus, a nephew of William the Conqueror. 
Considerable remains of the Norman struc- 
ture still exist, but the principal portions 
were erected during the thirteenth, four- 
teenth and fifteenth centuries. It is almost 
entirely built of the red sandstone of the dis- 
trict. The roof of the nave is of panelled 
oak, its bosses being ornamented with coats 
of arms, mainly of persons connected with 
the city and its history. Fine mosaics are 
on the north wall and in the north aisle of 
the nave lies buried William Makepeace 
Thackeray. 

Between the nave and the choir is a screen 
[201] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

of elaborate wood-work; while over the stalls 
in the choir are some of the finest oak cano- 
pies in England. In the Lady Chapel on one 
side of the bosses is depicted the murder of 
Thomas a Becket. Two flags suspended at 
the west end of the south wall of the nave 
were present at the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

The Cloisters on the north side of the Ca- 
thedral are in the style of the fifteenth cen- 
tury; they are much battered but most 
beautiful. The Chapter House and its vesti- 
bule are both fine specimens of Early English 
at its best. In the refectory is a fine reader's 
pulpit approached by a staircase built in the 
wall. 

Through Werburgh Street, a thorough- 
fare lined by modern buildings modelled af- 
ter ancient patterns, to Foregate Street, as 
far as Park Road, we followed a path to the 
church of Saint John the Baptist, finely sit- 
uated above the Dee. This church dates 
from the eleventh century and occupies the 
site of an earlier Saxon one. The present 
building, however, is a mere torso, consist- 
ing of little more than the nave of the orig- 
inal church. The choir and chancel, crushed 
by the falling of the centre tower in 1470, and 
[ 202 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

the west front, destroyed by a similar acci- 
dent a century later, are picturesque ruins 
adjoining the church. 

The interior is an excellent example of 
simple yet stately Norman architecture. 
The west window was presented about 
twenty years ago by the late Duke of West- 
minster. It illustrates the history of the 
city from the massacre of the monks of Ban- 
go r-is-y-coed in 613 to the restoration of 
episcopacy in 1660. 

On our way to the Gladstone Country we 
passed Chester Castle, originally built by the 
first Norman Earl of Chester. The build- 
ings are now used as a barracks, the Shire 
Hall, the Assize Court and the Gaol. At 
this castle William First spent some time 
after laying waste the northwestern coun- 
tries, and several of his successors lodged 
within its walls when engaged in expeditions 
against the Welsh, and it was the resting 
place for one night of Richard Second when 
on his way from Flint Castle to London to 
resign the crown. 

At Hawarden (pronounced Harden) is the 
Castle which was for many years the resi- 
dence of the late Right Hon. W. E. Glad- 
[203] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

stone. It is a handsome modern mansion, 
having the character of a castellated Gothic 
edifice of the thirteenth century; within the 
park are the ruins of a very ancient castle 
which appears to have been built by the 
Bretons, although at the time of the Norman 
Conquest it was a stronghold of the Saxons. 
The ruins consist mainly of a massive cir- 
cular keep and contain a chapel, the top of 
which commands a fine view of the Dee val- 
ley. 

In the Early English church at Hawarden 
is a most beautiful monument with eifigies 
of Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone in white marble; 
above their heads an angel stretches his 
wings, and between them rests a magnifi- 
cent crucifix. The light is shed in soft col- 
ours upon it from a window presented by 
grateful Armenians and there is also a memo- 
rial tablet to Mr. Gladstone. 

Adjoining the church is Saint Deiniol's 
Library, established by the late prime min- 
ister. Many of his own books are there now 
and the whole represents part of the national 
memorial of the great statesman. 

About two miles from Hawarden is Ewloe 
Castle situated in a thickly wooded dingle. 
[204] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

It is an interesting ruin, finely mantled in 
ivy. From there we passed through Mold, 
the neighbourhood of which abounds in min- 
eral wealth. Its handsome church, dedicated 
to the Virgin Mary, is of Gothic architec- 
ture of the time of the seventh Henry. 

Through the Vale of Clwyd, distinguished 
for its rich cultivation and tranquil beauty, 
we drove to Denbigh, the county town, 
which occupies a conspicuous situation near 
the centre of the Vale. It stands on a steep 
acclivity, crowned by the ruins of its noble 
castle, whence there is an extensive pros- 
pect of the vale, with the town of Ruthin 
on one hand and Saint Asaph on the other. 
The castle dating from the reign of Edward 
First was granted by Queen Elizabeth to 
Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who afterwards 
entertained the Virgin Queen there with 
great magnificence. The castle afforded 
shelter to the first Charles after the battle 
of Rowton. Dismantled at the Restoration 
it has been partly restored and the interior 
is now used as a recreation ground. 

The fine church of Saint Mary begun by 
the Earl of Leicester has replaced Old Saint 
Hilary's, now closed. Sir Henry M. Stanley 
[205] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

was born at Denbigh. While we were there 
a military funeral was taking place and the 
soldiers were lined up in front of the home 
of their dead comrade, waiting to pay their 
last tribute, that of bearing his corpse on a 
gun-carriage to the church and burial place^ 
there to sound a final ''taps." 

Flying to the north of the fertile Vale of 
Clwyd we entered Saint Asaph situated be- 
tween the rivers Eloy and Clwyd. The 
Cathedral, the smallest in the kingdom, is a 
Decorated building of the fifteenth century. 
Its exterior is most plain, the massive tower 
being the conspicuous feature. The interior 
has fine carved oak stalls, some good modern 
stained glass and a monument to Mrs. He- 
mans, the poetess, who, however, is buried 
in Dublin. 

About three miles north is Bodelwyd- 
dan Church, sometimes called The Marble 
Church, one of the richest specimens of ec- 
clesiastical architecture in Great Britain, 
and erected by the late Lady Margaret Wil- 
loughby de Broke in memory of her husband 
at a cost of about sixty thousand pounds. 
The graceful lofty spire attains a height of 
two hundred feet. 

[206] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Still speeding toward the north we reached 
Abergele, a small market town and seaport, 
consisting chiefly of one wide irregular street. 
Although the houses are more than half a 
mile from the coast, the salubrity of the air 
and suitableness of the smooth and firm 
sand, render it a favourite resort for bathing. 

Between Abergele and the sea is the vil- 
lage of Pensarn, and going along another 
mile we saw Gwych Castle, owned by the 
Earl of Dundonald, a vast and imposing 
structure. Though picturesque in appear- 
ance it is somewhat incongruous in its style 
of architecture and, to a large extent, sham, 
the greater part of the structure being a 
mere shell, built for effect. At this castle 
Mrs. Hemans passed nine years of her life. 

We sped along the coast to Colwyn Bay, 
a flourishing watering-place. Below us the 
Irish Sea beat upon its sands in fury and 
tossed about the big ships steaming to and 
from all ports of the world. 

From there we dipped south to Conway, 
the ancient and picturesque little town on 
the left bank of the Conway River, still sur- 
rounded with walls coeval with the castle. 
This wall is a mile and a quarter in length 
[207] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

and twelve feet thick, fortified with twenty- 
one semi-circular towers and three Moorish 
looking gates, (a style of building intro- 
duced by the Crusaders on returning from 
the East.) 

The town contains some curious old tim- 
ber houses, one of which is especially worthy 
of notice, Plas Mawr, bearing the date 1585. 
It was built in the reign of Elizabeth and it 
is said that she and the Earl of Leicester 
once occupied it. The interior contains pan- 
elled rooms, fretted ceilings, old fire-places 
and quaint carvings. The Royal Cambrian 
Academy of Arts holds its annual exhibition 
there. 

Conway Castle is the most beautiful ruin 
in Wales, and is finely situated on a rock ris- 
ing above the river. It was built by the first 
Edward as a security against Welsh insur- 
rection in order to command the pass of Pen- 
maenmawr, which then, as now, formed the 
road to Snowden and Anglesey. When in 
its perfect state, it must have been one of 
the most magnificent fortresses in Britain. 
Its shape is an irregular oblong, the walls of 
which are strengthened by eight massive cir- 
cular towers. 

[208] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Through a portcuUised gateway we en- 
tered the Great Court, to the right of which 
is the Banqueting Hall, with roof and floor 
gone, but the level of the latter may be 
traced by the fire-place. In the Queen's 
Tower is a beautiful oriel window known 
as Queen Eleanor's Oratory. The King's 
Tower opposite, has below it a dungeon. 

The white painted suspension bridge is the 
jarring note of this otherwise perfect ruin. 
This leads across the river to the Castle, 
and was built to obviate the inconvenience 
and hazard of the ferry. 

One of the most celebrated scenic portions 
of Wales is the valley of the Conway River. 
Through this we drove, passing Trefriw set 
amid wild and romantic scenery and Llan- 
rwst which is broad, rich and beautiful. At 
the former place is a church said to have 
been built by Llewellyn the Great, and a 
most picturesque waterfall. Llanrwst is a 
market town on the river, surrounded by 
much magnificent scenery. In the church, 
dedicated to Saint Mary, is a stone coffin of 
the great Llewellyn, said to have been 
brought from Maenan Abbey. 

Bettws-y-Coed or "the station in the 
[209] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

wood" is charmingly situated at the con- 
fluence of the rivers Conway and Llugwy in 
a basin surrounded with luxuriantly wooded 
cliflfs and hills. At the Royal Oak we had 
tea and were shown the sign-board painted 
by the late David Cox, A. R. A., for this 
hotel where it is still kept as an heirloom. 
The views at Bettws-y-Coed present features 
of quiet loveliness and grandeur, in which 
water, wood and hill commingle. 

We crossed the Llugwy by the Pont-y-Pair, 
a romantic structure of the fifteenth century 
having five lofty and upright arches covered 
with ivy, beneath which the foaming cur- 
rent rushes with the fury of a cataract and 
then, making a sudden bend, quietly sub- 
sides into the channel of the Conway. The 
Fairy Glen is a romantic little dell with a 
delightful combination of waterfalls, rocks 
and woods reached by walking down a rough 
lane. The impressiveness of this glen is ma- 
terially aided by its accessories, the union of 
beauty and grandeur in the surrounding 
scenery, the luxuriant wildness of the over- 
hanging trees, the dark solemn colours of the 
rocky walls and the forms of the rugged ba- 
sins which receive the water. 
[210] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Through deep wooded valleys we twisted 
to Conover, and sped quickly from there to 
Llangollen, up steep hills with the river Dee 
fretting and foaming along its rock-strewn 
bed in the valley below us. 



[211] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



IX 



SHREWSBURY, WORCESTER, AND BROADWAY 

September I2th. Llangollen or the " Church 
of Saint Gollen" is a neat little town delight- 
fully situated on the river Dee in a hill- 
surrounded hollow. For some inscrutable 
reason the bridge which is almost opposite 
the rose garden of the Hand Hotel is reck- 
oned as one of the ''Seven Wonders of 
Wales." It is a simple structure with four 
irregular narrow-pointed arches. 

Half a mile south of the bridge is Plas 
Newydd, once the residence of the celebrated 
"Ladies of Llangollen." Both inside and 
out the house is decorated with wood carv- 
ings and contains a few relics, antique fur- 
niture, paintings, china and silver. The 
"Ladies" were two Irish damsels. Lady El- 
eanor Butler and the Hon. Sarah Ponsonby, 
who swore eternal friendship, devoted them- 
selves to a life of celibacy and, secretly leav- 
ing their homes, lived together for half a 
century at Llangollen with their faithful 
[212] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

servant, Mary Carryl, who lies buried be- 
neath the same stone with the "Ladies" in 
the churchyard of Llangollen. 

Leaving the valley of the Dee we bowled 
along to Oswestry, an interesting old town 
with a picturesque church tower. The men, 
women and children were chattering in 
Welsh, in all the villages. 

From there we dipped south to Shrews- 
bury, standing at the bend of the silvery 
Severn, which makes a horseshoe around 
the town. This very ancient town contains 
many half-timbered houses which have 
stood for centuries. A kinsman of William 
the Conqueror, Roger de Montgomery, was 
made Earl of Shrewsbury and built the 
Castle, the interior of which is now used as 
a private residence. 

On the opposite side of the street, a little 
short of the entrance to the Castle grounds, 
is a building which was formerly the Shrews- 
bury School, an institution claiming as pu- 
pils Sir Philip Sidney and Charles Darwin. 

Saint Mary's church contains beautiful 

glass, superior to any other Parish church 

in England, excepting Fairford-in-Glouces- 

tershire. In the Trinity Chapel is a tomb 

[213] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

containing a headless skeleton discovered 
beneath it many years ago, believed to be 
that of the Earl of Worcester. Saint Alk- 
mond's Church is said to have been founded 
by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. 

In the street of Wyle Cop are several old 
wooden buildings, one being "Ye Ancient 
House" in which King Henry Seventh slept 
en route to Bos worth Field, August, 1485. 
The picturesque Market Hall was built in 
1596 and is one of the finest buildings of its 
kind. At one end is a statue of Richard, 
Duke of York, brought from the old Welsh 
bridge when that structure was replaced and 
in front of the Market is a statue of Lord 
Clive, a native of the county. This square 
contains two of the finest half-timbered man- 
sions in Shrewsbury. One was the town 
house of the Irelands of Albrighton; the 
other belonged to the Owen family and bears 
on its front the words, "Erected by Richard 
Owen the elder, gentleman, ano. dni. 1592." 

A slight detour took us to Butchers' Row 
which is one of the best specimens of Shrews- 
bury's ancient streets and is entered from 
Pride Hill under a wooden archway. 

As the day was Sunday we were unable 
[214] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

to purchase any "Shrewsbury cake" of 
which one reads in Ingoldsby's Bloudie 
Jacke: — 
"A Shrewsbury cake of Pailin's own make." 

Past the thatched cottages of Church 
Stretton, nestling at the feet of the Stretton 
Hills, we motored quickly to Ludlow, where 
are the ruins of the Castle, still magnificent 
in decay, which was formerly the seat of the 
Lords President of Wales. Here Milton 
wrote his "Comus" to celebrate the ap- 
pointment of the Earl of Bridgewater to the 
office of Lord Marcher and a great part of 
Butler's *' Hudibras " was also written within 
its walls. 

In this prettily situated town there are 
many old wooden houses and The Three 
Feathers Inn has a most exquisitely carved 
front. Its entrance door is studded with 
fifty iron studs and has two wrought iron 
hinges, the end of each being designed in a 
fleur-de-lys. There is an abundance of oak 
work in the hall, the plain oak staircase lead- 
ing to a large dining-room with a beautifully 
carved mantlepiece. The ceiling is a study 
after the Italian style, the moulding repre- 
senting roses, thistles, acorns and bunches of 
[215] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

grapes, with centre panel bearing the Royal 
Arms of James First. The original fire- 
place has over it a very fine carving in oak 
of the same royal gentleman's insignia (the 
Tudor rose, portcullis and feathers). Most 
of the rooms, including the dining-room, are 
panelled to the ceiling. 

At Hereford we had not time to enter the 
Cathedral, but hunted out the Raven Inn, 
supposed to be the birthplace of David Gar- 
rick. All about Hereford is characteristic 
English river scenery, and in every direction 
are lovely walks, the numerous small and 
comfortable inns making it a comparatively 
easy temptation to extend one's ramble in 
almost any direction. 

At Ledbury we lunched at "The Feathers 
Inn" a quaint timbered house having ivy- 
geranium filled window boxes. After our 
midday meal we had a glimpse of the Insti- 
tute which was opened in 1895 to commemo- 
rate Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who spent 
her girlhood at Hope End, in the vicinity. 

About five miles north of Ledbury lies 
Malvern and by way of the Malvern Hills 
we reached this inland health resort, con- 
sisting mainly of villas, hotels and hydro^ 
[216] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

pathic establishments. The Priory Church 
was founded in the eleventh century and has 
a tower apparently modelled on that of 
Gloucester Cathedral. Saint Anne's Chapel, 
the ancient encaustic tiles, the fine fifteenth 
century stained glass windows, the miserere 
carvings, the mosaic in the reredos and some 
of the ancient monuments are all interesting. 

All along the road we met the country 
people who had gathered in the village to 
pick the hops. They were gaily dressed in 
their "Sunday best," the brightly colored 
ribbons of the girls fluttering against the 
stiflfly dressed attentive swains and the chil- 
dren in their red frocks looked like flowers 
standing among the grasses. 

Descending the Malvern Hills we took 
our way along the road to Worcester and 
soon the spires of the Cathedral loomed 
against the horizon and red gleaming roofs 
crept over the tops of the bushes, while the 
Severn sparkled in the distance. 

At Worcester we drove up High Street 
and entered the north door of the Cathedral. 
The plan of the building is a plain cross, the 
central tower being just over one hundred 
and sixty fefet in height. Between services 
[217] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

we were hurried through to see the Chapter 
House, a decagonal building, dating from 
the Late Norman period and having its 
vaulting borne by a single column in the 
centre; then we were permitted to glimpse 
the cloisters and the crypt, the latter having 
a fine groined roof and light supporting col- 
umns; and the Lady Chapel, on the south 
wall of which is a tablet to the memory of 
the wife of Izaak Walton, who was a sister 
of Bishop Ken. The quaint epitaph was 
written by her husband. 

Only a minute was allowed us for the 
most interesting memorial in the Cathedral, 
the tomb of King John in the choir, said to 
be the earliest existing effigy of an English 
monarch. It consists of a sarcophagus- 
tomb of the sixteenth century, surmounted 
by a recumbent statute of the thirteenth 
century. The King died at Newark but at 
his request was buried at Worcester. 

The choir is separated from the nave by a 
most elaborate screen and metal gates are 
also at the ends of the aisles. The stalls are 
handsome and the misereres very quaint. In 
the Chantry chapel there is an altar-tomb 
to Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry 
[218] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Seventh, elder brother of the eighth Henry 
and first husband of Catherine of Aragon. 

The magnificent groined roof, extending 
in an unbroken line for three hundred and 
eighty-seven feet is a feature that no other 
EngHsh Cathedral can match. The verger 
rushed us through with little ceremony say- 
ing they must prepare the place for the next 
service. It seemed most inhospitable to 
close a house of worship on Sunday and es- 
pecially against us from so far away and un- 
certain of a return visit to this wonderful 
old edifice. 

Worcester is a place of great antiquity. 
It lies on the left bank of the Severn in a fer- 
tile and picturesque district and was fre- 
quently besieged and burned during the 
wars of the middle ages, no other English 
town of equal importance having had a more 
checkered career. The last and most cele- 
brated siege was that of 165 1, when Charles 
Second and his Scottish troops were de- 
feated by Cromwell before the town after a 
very severe struggle, the young Prince nar- 
rowly escaping capture. 

In High Street is the Hop Market, a very 
important industry there, and the Guild 
[219] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Hall, a Queen Anne building decorated with 
her statue and others of various monarchs 
and allegorical figures. 

On the way from Worcester to Pershore 
we crossed the Avon, "the river of song" 
and of wooded beauty, idyllic in its pretty 
windings. Continuing our journey, we 
reached the small town of Evesham, situ- 
ated in a fertile valley with many orchards 
and market gardens. Once it possessed a 
wonderful Abbey, founded in the eighth 
century. Of this nothing now remains ex- 
cept the dilapidated Norman archway and 
the beautiful Bell Tower. Simon de Mont- 
fort was buried there but no memorial 
marks his resting place. He was defeated 
and slain at Evesham by Prince Edward, 
afterwards Edward First, and a small col- 
umn marks the spot where the former fell. 

Before reaching Broadway we stopped at 
the old-world village of Wickhamford which 
has some pretty half-timbered houses, the 
handsomest being the restored Grange. The 
church contains the tomb of Penelope Wash- 
ington, bearing the Washington Arms. She 
was the daughter of Colonel Henry Wash- 
ington, cousin to the two brothers Washing- 
[ 220 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

ton who emigrated to America, one of whom 
was John, the great grandfather of our be- 
loved George Washington. 

Bathed in the sunset glow was quaint old 
Broadway, as we drove up to the beautiful 
stone doorway of the fine old hostelry, The 
Lygon Arms. The doorway bears the date 
1620 and the names of John Trevis and his 
wife, Ursula. 

Our rooms were what we had dreamed of 
finding each night after leaving the Swan at 
Mansfield. Up queer little flights of stairs 
we went to the oak raftered chambers with 
mullion windows, possessing catches several 
hundred years old, and furnished in antique 
oak, a cheery fire blazing in the big fire- 
places. 

For a "parlor" we had what is known as 
the Cromwell Room, where the Protector 
IS supposed to have slept previous to the 
Battle of Worcester. This chamber has a 
handsome ceiling and frieze put there by 
John Trevis. The present proprietor, Mr. 
Russell, has furnished it, at considerable ex- 
pense, with furniture of the Cromwellian 
period. 

By candle light we fared sumptuously in 
[221] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

a low oak raftered room having a fifteenth 
century fire-place in which a roaring fire 
crackled, throwing high lights on the old 
panellings. The walls were adorned with old 
portraits, among which were some painted 
by Hogarth. After dinner, Mr. Russell was 
good enough to show us over the Inn, as we 
were pressed for time the next day. 

In the so-called Oak Panelled Room 
Charles First is fondly supposed to have 
been a guest on one occasion at least. The 
Ingle Nook is very large and is used as a 
smoking-room. In the private dining-room, 
Mr. and Mrs. Russell have a beautiful collec- 
tion of old paintings, crockery and furniture 
and a wonderful accumulation of Jacobean 
glass. The family dine at a long high nar- 
row table, sitting on tall stools of Jacobean 
times. 

During the restoration of the Inn, Mr. 
Russell discovered many interesting articles. 
Silver coins of Charles First's reign, an an- 
cient candle-stick, a striker used to produce 
the necessary spark with the tinder box, 
Cromwellian pipes, a periwig curler, several 
old Bristol bottles, and an old worm-eaten 
apple scoop, having carved on it the initials 

[ 222 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

of Ann Trevis, a daughter of John Trevis, 
once a landlord of the Inn. 

Georges, the Third and Fourth both hon- 
ored The Lygon Arms by visiting it, and, 
until a few years ago, the circumstances were 
fresh in the minds of the oldest inhabitants. 

After showing us about Mr. Russell gave 
us some delicious liquer he had bought at 
auction from the wine cellar of a famous old 
tavern in London. It was many years old 
and one cannot purchase the brand at pres- 
ent. 

A great deal has been done to restore this 
grand old tavern to its original condition 
and when Mr. Russell completes the work 
it will be a fine specimen of a Jacobean Inn. 



223 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



X 



TO LONDON BY WAY OF OXFORD AND HENLEY 

September ijth. The baying of hounds 
awakened us early and leaning from the 
window we watched the men and women 
start off to hunt. The black and white of 
the pack, the pink of the hunting coats and 
the vari-coloured spirited horses making a 
beautiful picture along the wide street of 
Broadway with its rows of Elizabethan cot- 
tages, their diamond shaped panes glittering 
under their low thatched roofs. 

Leaving the dear old fashioned rooms we 
went to breakfast and afterwards Mr. Rus- 
sell took us to his antique furniture shop 
which was so enthralling we wanted every- 
thing we saw there. 

All the way to the venerable old church 
of Saint Eadburg were enticing rose-embow- 
ered cottages having mossy thatched roofs 
and graceful Tudor chimneys. The church 
is cruciform in shape and dates from about 
1 190. The interior is of harmonious propor- 
[224] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

tions; the pulpit of the fourteenth century- 
has a text from Proverbs painted in Old 
English lettering around the top. Some an- 
cient carved oak stalls are fitted in the choir 
under the tower and over the chancel arch 
is painted the escutcheon of Charles First. 

Next we visited the Abbot's Grange 
which stands back in a garden at the foot of 
the Green. This is commonly known as the 
Priory. It has passed through many vicis- 
situdes, but is now private property and has 
been carefully restored, and, though not 
open to the public, is a picturesque object 
of interest of which Broadway is very proud. 
The garden surrounding the house has been 
made famous forever by great modern paint- 
ers. There bloomed the roses painted by 
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and Mr. Sar- 
gent's picture in the Tate Gallery of "Car- 
nation-Lily Lily-Rose" originated there. 

In Pye Lane are the kennels of the North 
Cotswold pack and the site of the old Manor 
House of which nothing remains except the 
walls of an outbuilding. The old houses are 
all so pretty with their gabled and mul- 
lioned windows. One bears on its chimney- 
shaft the date 1675. Next to this are the 
[225] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

buildings, once the Old Bull Inn. Yew Tree 
Cottage has a curiously intersected roof and 
an ancient sun-dial over one of the dormer 
windows. 

Tudor House has fine mullioned windows, 
some of them still containing the original 
dim glass and lead fitted casements. It 
claims to have been the resting place of the 
first Charles. 

The Prior's House is another ancient build- 
ing supposed to be of the same date and 
origin as the Abbot's Grange. So low is its 
roof and so sunken the flagstones leading 
to its arched doorway that it seems to be 
weighed down with the burden of its age. 

As we climbed the hill toward Oxford we 
passed the attractive home of Mary Ander- 
son, now Madame de Nevarro. The dwell- 
ing is composed of two fine old farm-houses 
of Tudor architecture which have been 
transformed into a beautiful residence. One 
of the houses was formerly used for some 
years as the home of Maud Valerie White, 
the well-known composer and pianist. 

We had a delicious run, past thatched cot- 
tages with open welcome doors, to the vil- 
lage of Bourton-on-the-Hill. At this place, 
[226] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

tradition avers, was born Sir Thomas Over- 
bury, a gentleman of the Court of James 
First, who, at the instigation of the Countess 
of Essex, was slowly poisoned to death after 
being imprisoned in the tower. He had tried 
to dissuade the Earl of Somerset, favourite 
of James, from marrying this beautiful but 
wretched woman, who, in her rage, avenged 
herself in this horrible manner. 

A little farther on we dipped down to 
the small market town of Moreton-in-the- 
Marsh. Opposite the White Hart, another 
Inn honoured by a visit from Charles First, 
is the ancient Curfew Bell turret, jutting 
into the London road. This way we took 
with deep regret, realizing night would find 
us in London, our long anticipated trip a 
thing of the past. 

Passing Aldestrop we saw Daylesford 
House, once the seat of Warren Hastings, 
who died there and is buried in the church- 
yard. The Mansion House at Aldestrop is 
a fine Tudor edifice. 

Chipping Norton, a busy little manufac- 
turing town, we next passed and continued 
along the road for many miles, the ancient 
highway stretching far away in front of us, 
[227] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

gradually narrowing into a thread line of 
gold. 

At the small town of Woodstock we drove 
to the gates of Blenheim Park, the palatial 
residence of the Duke of Marlborough. 
The palace was not open so we needs must 
content ourselves with a stroll in the park 
and the views we could obtain of the house 
from there. The park and gardens are ex- 
tensive and attractive, containing temples, 
cascades and fountains. The park is stocked 
with deer who were grazing quietly under 
the shade of the spreading trees. 

The palace is imposing, but heavy in style. 
The best view of it is from the entrance gates, 
across the lake though even from there it is 
partly hidden by the trees. 

Woodstock Manor was an early residence 
of the English Kings, but no trace now re- 
mains of the palace built there by Henry 
First. Edward, the Black Prince, was born 
at Woodstock and Henry Second is sup- 
posed to have constructed there the bower 
for his " Fair Rosamund." In the gate house 
Princess Elizabeth was confined for some 
time by her sister Queen Mary. At Wood- 
stock Chaucer once lived and its name is cele- 

[228 1 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

brated In literature through the romances 
of Sir Walter Scott. 

The air was fragrant with the odour of 
bracken and pine as we sped through the 
country roads to Oxford. Arriving there we 
lunched at The Mitre, a fascinating old Inn 
with steps everywhere. After a tempting 
luncheon we hurried off to see as much as 
we could of the colleges in three hours, In the 
face of what Nathaniel Hawthorne has writ- 
ten: "The world surely has no other place 
like Oxford; it is despair to see such a place 
and ever to leave It, for It would take a life- 
time and more to comprehend and enjoy it 
satisfactorily." 

The Universities of Oxford have preserved 
so many of their mediaeval institutions unal- 
tered, differing so materially from the other 
institutions of Great Britain, Continental 
Europe and America in this respect. Ox- 
ford Includes twenty-one colleges and halls, 
and these, with Cambridge, are the most 
aristocratic universities of Great Britain. 

Christ Church, founded by Cardinal Wol- 
sey and renewed by Henry Eighth, is one of 
the largest and most fashionable of the col- 
leges. The " Fellows " are called " Students " 
[229] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

as it is attended by undergraduates. We 
entered through the handsome gateway, 
called Tom Gate which was begun by Wol- 
sey and finished by Wren. Crossing the 
Great Quadrangle we proceeded to the ban- 
queting hall in the southeast corner, with its 
fan-vaulted entrance to the beautiful room 
where the ceiling is of carved oak, and on 
the walls are portraits of Wolsey, Henry 
Eighth, Queen Elizabeth, John Locke and 
Gladstone, painted by Holbein, Lely, Mil- 
lais and Gainsborough. 

The Cathedral of the diocese of Oxford 
serves as the Chapel of Christ Church. It 
is a Late Norman or Transitional building 
and is the smallest Cathedral in England. 
The most striking feature of the interior is 
the curious arrangement of arches in the 
nave. They are double, the lower ones 
springing from corbels attached to the piers. 
The timber roof is ascribed to Wolsey, 
also the beautiful groined roof of the choir 
with its graceful pendants. In the east wall 
of the aisle of the south transept is a window 
of old stained glass from which the head of 
Saint Thomas of Canterbury, now replaced 
by plain white glass, is said to have been 
[230] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

struck off by a Puritan trooper. Most of 
the windows are by Burne- Jones in exquisite 
modern glass; the stalls and elaborate Epis- 
copal throne are also modern. The Lady 
Chapel occupies a very unusual position, 
adjoining the north aisle of the choir. 

Among the most distinguished members 
of Christ Church were Sir Philip Sidney, 
Ben Jonson, the Wesleys, Wellington, Peel, 
Ruskin and Gladstone. 

Retracing our steps to the Great Tom 
Gate, we proceeded to Oriel College. It has 
a most picturesque quadrangle, but is, how- 
ever, more noted for its members than its 
architecture, for Sir Walter Raleigh, Bishop 
Butler, Cardinal Newman and Thomas 
Hughes were educated here. 

A little farther on is Saint Mary Hall, 
known to the undergraduates as the " Skin- 
nery." Opposite this are the new buildings 
of Brasenose College and Saint Mary the 
Virgin's, and the University Church. A slab 
in the chancel pavement records that Amy 
Robsart was buried in the choir in 1560. 

At Brasenose College, the name of which 
seems to have been punningly perpetuated 
by an ancient knocker or door handle in the 
[231 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

form of a nose of brass, the gate and hall 
have preserved their original character. 

Near this is the Bodleian Library, contain- 
ing about seven hundred thousand printed 
volumes, thirty thousand volumes of manu- 
scripts, fifty thousand coins, and many 
drawings. In part of the reading room are 
glass cases containing autographs of cele- 
brated persons, some interesting memorials 
of Shelley and manuscripts distinguished for 
their age, illumination and beautiful or sin- 
gular bindings. 

On we rushed to New College, which, 
in spite of its name, is one of the oldest 
and most interesting buildings in Oxford. 
Founded by William of Wykeham, Bishop 
of Winchester in 1379, it still retains its 
original appearance throughout a great part 
of the building. The upper story of the 
principal quadrangle dates from 1678 and 
the garden-wing was added in 1684. 

Beyond the city walls, with their mantle 
of ivy, are the buildings erected by Sir G. G. 
Scott in 1876, to which an east wing with a 
stately gate-tower was added by Champneys 
in 1897. 

The beautiful gardens, so sweet, quiet 
[232] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

and sacred in their stately seclusion, are 
bounded on two sides by the old city walls 
whose bastions are hidden by a mantle of 
ivy and against this drapery of green, tall 
brightly coloured flowers rest their graceful 
heads. 

The chapel, which is perhaps the earliest 
building in England erected from the foun- 
dation entirely in the Perpendicular style, 
contains the silver-gilt Episcopal staff of the 
founder. The beautiful large west window 
was executed from designs by Sir Joshua 
Reynolds; the other windows are of the four- 
teenth century. The fine carved stone 
reredos was restored in 1894 and the niches 
again filled with the little statues. 

The smaller quadrangle adjoins the chapel 
with its cloisters and tower, — the latter the 
last work of William of Wykeham, having 
been added as a fortification. 

Leaving new College, we passed the church 
of Saint Peter in the East, Saint Edmund 
Hall, the quadrangle of which possesses a 
wonderfully beautiful wistaria vine, and, 
gaining High Street, visited the College of 
Saint Mary Magdalen (pronounced Maud- 
lin.) This college was founded by Bishop 
[233] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Waynflete and is without any exception the 
most beautiful college at Oxford. 

After entering the modern gateway lead- 
ing to one of the quadrangles, we saw in a 
corner to the right, on a level with the first 
four windows, an old stone pulpit where a 
University sermon is preached on the festi- 
val of Saint John the Baptist. To the left 
are Saint Swithen's Quad and part of Old 
Magdalen Hall. Beyond the vine-clad 
Muniment Tower is the so-called Founder's 
Tower, which contains two state bedrooms 
and a banqueting hall. These apartments 
contain some valuable old tapestry repre- 
senting the marriage of Prince Arthur, elder 
brother of Henry Eighth, and Catherine of 
Aragon. 

The chapel contains an elaborate reredos 
with statues very like the one at New Col- 
lege, also a beautiful modern window in 
various shades of sepia. The cloisters sur- 
rounding the first quadrangle are very beau- 
tiful; a small passage connects the cloister 
with the Chaplain's Quadrangle. There one 
gets a good view of Magdalen Tower, one 
of the chief architectural glories of the city, 
said to have been built under the superin- 

[234] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

tendence of Cardinal Wolsey, when Bursar 
of the college. On May Day at five o'clock 
in the morning the choir sings a Latin hymn 
on top of this tower, a custom supposed to 
have originated as an annual requiem for 
the seventh Henry. 

The college grounds are most attractive, 
the deer park well stocked with the grace- 
ful creatures who rushed to the fence at our 
approach expecting we were there to feed 
them. The river Cherwell flows through the 
grounds and the walks along it are as beauti- 
ful as the gliding silvery river and overhang- 
ing leafy trees can make them. There is a 
peaceful calm and beauty in Addison's walk, 
(a forest aisle) said to have been the favour- 
ite resort of the essayist when an under- 
graduate. 

Under the little foot-bridge crossing the 
Cherwell and leading to this walk, two 
haughty black swans lifted their graceful 
heads and opened their scarlet bills for food. 

Among the names most eminent on the 
books of Magdalen are Wolsey, Addison, 
Charles Reade, Collins and Gibson. 

No time could we give to Queen's, Uni- 
versity, All Souls, Lincoln, or Exeter Col- 

[235] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

leges, but took a peep at Jesus College. 
This was founded by Queen Elizabeth and 
was first intended for Welsh students only. 
Divine service is still held in the chapel in 
that language twice a week. The chapel 
contains oaken wainscoting dating from 
1621. In the Hall is a fine Jacobean screen 
and a portrait of Charles First ascribed to 
Van Dyck. In one of the common rooms 
is a fine portrait of Elizabeth by Zac- 
chero. 

At Trinity College the chapel contains a 
beautiful carved screen and altar-piece by 
Grinling Gibbons and in the garden is the 
celebrated avenue of limes. 

Balliol College was founded by John 
Balliol and Dervorguilla, his wife, whose 
son was for a short time King of Scotland. 
It is one of the largest colleges in Oxford 
and its standard of scholarship is very high. 
It is much frequented by Scottish students. 
The Hall contains portraits of Wycliffe, 
Archbishop Tait and Robert Browning 
(honorary fellow) and in the library are 
MSS. of Browning's poems and the ''old 
yellow book" that figures in "The Ring 
and the Book." 

[236] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

A little beyond Balliol stands the Mar- 
tyr's Memorial, erected to the memory of 
Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley, who were 
burned in front of the college in 1555 and 
1556. The monument is in the richest 
Gothic style adorned with statues of the 
three martyrs. 

Enough time remained for a visit to the 
most picturesque of all the colleges, that of 
Saint John's. The old quadrangle belonged 
to the college of Saint Bernard, founded by 
Archbishop Chichele about 1440; the Hall is 
of the same period but has been restored. 
From the first quadrangle a vaulted passage 
with delicately beautiful fan-tracery leads 
to the second quadrangle. The south and 
east sides of this are occupied by the library. 
On the other sides are very picturesque 
oriel windows and the gardens have the 
finest lawns in Oxford. In the library is the 
skull cap in which Archbishop Laud was 
executed, also some fine MSS. and early 
printed works. 

On High Street our car awaited us. This 
principal street of the city is flanked on both 
sides with a long array of quaint and inter- 
esting buildings. Wordsworth devoted a 

[237] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

sonnet to the "stream like wanderings of 
that glorious street"; Hawthorne called it 
"the noblest old street in England"; and 
Sir Walter Scott admitted that it rivalled 
the High Street of Edinburgh. 

Crossing the Magdalen Bridge we turned 
toward Henley. The clouds floated lazily in 
a deep blue sky over the small perfectly 
kept farms, each outlined with its inevita- 
ble hedge, the whole landscape looking like 
a huge checkerboard. 

At the Red Lion, on the bank of the 
Thames, we stopped for tea. The river was 
thickly dotted with small craft, aflame and 
aflutter with brilliant coloured hats and par- 
asols of the women and gay coats and caps 
of the men. 

It was on a window of the Red Lion that 
Shenstone wrote those famous lines: — 

*'Who e're has travelled life's dull round, 
Where e're his stages may have been 
May sigh to think he still has found 
The warmest welcome at an Inn." 

Henley surrounded by wooded heights is 
the "Mecca" of boating men and much fre- 
quented by anglers. The Town Hall con- 
tains a portrait of the first George by Sir 
[238] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

Godfrey Kneller, presented by Lady Knel- 
ler, who is buried in the church. 

From the house-boats moored beside the 
flat shores of the river floated sweet strains 
of music, while from the punts and canoes 
the English voices came to us from over the 
water with tender distinctness. 

After taking some pictures of this ideal 
scene we crossed the bridge and proceeded 
to Maidenhead, through Temple Lock, be- 
yond which is Bisham Abbey, built in the 
Tudor style, originally a priory but now a 
private residence. Queen Elizabeth lived 
there for three years during the reign of her 
sister Mary. 

At Great Marlow Shelley lived in 1871. 
His "Revolt of Islam" was composed partly 
in his boat on the Thames and partly during 
his walks in the neighbourhood. 

Cookham is a most picturesque village on 
the Thames and near it is "Cliveden," the 
home of William Waldorf Astor, charmingly 
situated among rocks and hanging woods. 

At Maidenhead we dined. The river 

there is unsurpassed in its quiet loveliness. 

Our perfect day was drawing to a close in a 

sweet translucency. As dusk fell, lights be- 

[239] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

gan to twinkle in the house-boats and villas 
and from the punts came the sweet tinkling 
of guitars and mandolins accompanied by 
the mixed voices of the care free occupants. 
Here we lingered, — reluctantly taking the 
road for London. Long before reaching 
there the glow of the city lights was re- 
flected in the heavens. 

Threading our way among the many 
trams through Slough and Hounslow we re- 
entered that wonderful city and again 
passed by the monolith in Trafalgar Square 
and descended on our hotel. 



240 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 



XI 



THE DEPARTURE 

September 14th. The hurry and bustle be- 
gan early for we had left our packing until 
this morning. Through a mist of tears we 
left our friends at the steps of the hotel and 
hurried to the station. At Southampton 
there were many other steamers leaving for 
various ports and the wharves were thronged 
with travellers. 

Among us passed the faithful Saint Ber- 
nard with money box attached to his collar 
and gladly we gave our English coin to him 
for the widows and orphans of the sailors, 
receiving a bark of thanks from him at the 
tinkle of the money against the metal box. 
Until we were way out in the Channel the 
faithful creature kept on with his joyous 
barking. 

After passing the charming Isle of Wight 
we entered the broader Channel and 
steamed toward Cherbourg. Letters, pack- 
ages and telegrams were in our stateroom 
[241 ] 



A Motor Tour Through France and England 

and these kept us busy until the afternoon 
when we once again entered the harbor of 
Cherbourg and awaited the tender, bring- 
ing more passengers to join the many al- 
ready on board. 

The last piece of luggage was put on deck, 
the whistle blew and again we entered the 
Channel and with engines at full speed 
ploughed through the waters that led to the 
broad Atlantic and home. 



[242] 



%tf 



21 19^' 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



seP 21 »dH 




ii 



litl!) 




lilHi 



LIBRARY OF ^°NGRESS « 



020 657 474 4 



